Bentzi Robin, knitted news08.01.23 12:34 Tu Batvet Tishpag
(Photo: Yonatan Zindel/Flash 90)
The Knesset’s Constitution Committee met today (Sunday) to discuss the coalition’s proposal to expand the Norwegian law, in order to admit more Knesset members to each faction. At the beginning of the debate, MK Tali Gottlieb expressed opposition to the expansion of the law, arguing that not all ministers should resign from the Knesset.
“The decision on this matter should be completely matter-of-fact. I hear a lot of people talking about the work of ministers, so let’s be honest with ourselves as well – there are ministers whose office work is very long, so it makes sense in the existing law that there are 5 Norwegians. On the other hand, there are ministries where the work in them is poor Very much. We need to remember that we are elected officials, who work within the Knesset itself for 3 days. Even if I am required to sit in 5 committees, that’s what I will do.”
According to her, “Ministers who have very poor work in their offices – should not resign from the Knesset within the framework of Norwegian law. It is no secret that I constantly mention that the people of Israel look up to us, we are entrusted with the public purse. I am not interested in how many Norwegians were in the Bennett Lapid government or the extravagance and the feeling of contempt which I had when I saw the number of Norwegians.”
On the other hand, the Chairman of the Constitution Committee, Simcha Rothman, said at the hearing that “at the foundation of Norwegian law, which has accompanied us for many years, there is a necessity that is not up for debate – the workload imposed on the MKs, especially in light of the fact that ministers and deputy ministers are not members of the committees. In the coalition parties, all As a member of 7-5 committees, and the proposal is intended to enable the principle of participation in the discussions by the possibility of resigning and admitting those next in line to the Knesset.
“My consistent position throughout the years is that the Norwegian arrangement is excellent. The only thing I said is that we need to see how to strengthen the independence of the MKs and not leave Norwegian MKs who are not independent,” he added. “As part of the desire to strengthen their position, I also brought up a private statement that said MKs, after becoming Norwegians, would not be able to kick them out of the Knesset overnight.” He also said that “the national law according to which Hebrew law will serve as a source of inspiration for the legislator has not matured in this version but in a thinner version, but it is my duty as the chairman of a committee that he will serve as a source at least in this committee.”
As a reminder, Norwegian law allows members of the government to submit a letter of resignation to the Speaker of the Knesset, but each faction has a certain quota for implementing the Norwegian law, according to its relative size. “Up to four MKs can resign and a faction of ten or more MKs can resign – Up to five members of the Knesset may resign.
Now the coalition is seeking to change the resignation quota, so that a faction that will have at least 18 members of the Knesset – one third of its members of the Knesset will be allowed to terminate their membership within the framework of Norwegian law. In the current coalition, only the Likud faction counts this amount of Knesset members, which will allow it to increase the number of MKs who will resign from five to ten, and in fact double the realization as far as the Likud is concerned.
Did you find an error in the article? Does the content in the article violate copyrights that you own? Have you come across an inappropriate ad? Report to us