The public, social organizations and the Gil Pensioners Party
are up in arms after PM Ehud Olmert unexpectedly signed a
7.11 percent increase in the price of bread.
"Either we would have raised the price of bread or the
bakeries would not have baked the bread," said Olmert,
telling government ministers that he had rejected the
decision to increase bread prices over an extended period of
time. The price increase is being attributed to a rise in
input costs, namely wheat and fuel.
Sources close to Olmert said he agreed to take responsibility
for the decision rather than letting it fall on his
replacement, MK Eli Yishai (Shas). "The purchase of Yiscar
was a present to me for the day I entered the ministry, along
with the rise in bread prices," said Yishai, the new Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade.
MK Yishai held a meeting with representatives of the bakeries
on Monday, saying he believed solutions could be found to
compensate weaker segments of the population without harming
the bakeries.
Atty. Yaron Levinson, director of the Consumers Federation,
sent a letter to the Minister asking him to alter the
composition of the Price Committee, whose responsibilities
include determining the price of bread. According to the
Inspection Law on the Prices of Consumer Goods and Services
the committee is supposed to consist of two representatives
from the Finance Ministry and two representatives from the
Ministry of Industry and Trade. Levinson has asked the
Minister to act to bring consumer representatives into the
committee. "Bread is a staple that affects each and every
consumer. How can the price be determined without consumer
representatives? [They] can contribute toward greater
transparency and balance in decision-making. At the moment we
have no real information how the decisions on the increase
are reached," said Levinson.
MK Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners Party) said needy retirees
should be compensated for the price increase. If a decision
to this effect is not reached in the Knesset Finance
Committee he said the issue would again be raised for
discussion within the party.
Dozens of activists from the Lechem Party and Likud Youths
demonstrated outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem
on Sunday to protest the price increase. "The grace period we
wanted to give the government to handle social affairs have
passed," party head Yisrael Tavito said in a speech he gave.
"There is no Welfare Minister in the State of Israel, and
therefore we realize we have been deceived." The position may
be held open to give to UTJ if they join the coalition,
though there has been no public corroboration of this.
