"All in all, there has been cooperation between the government and the Histadrut. The package deal two years ago greatly helped the economic recovery," said Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz in response to yesterday's announcement by Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini that the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) will support the tent protesters and gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deadline to open talks on the high cost of living.
Asked by “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) if Eini is the address for talks, Steinitz said, "Until now, the dialogue between Netanyahu and Eini has helped."
Asked about Eini's ultimatum, Steinitz replied, "As far as I'm concerned, I'll talk with Eini."
Steinitz added that Eini cannot topple the government. "I haven’t read this morning's papers, but I doubt that there's a reality or intention of toppling the government. I think that this government has done much in the socioeconomic field, and successfully. It halted the economic crisis that greatly affected the US and Europe, and greatly helped the elderly and working mothers. This government will undertake many more reforms. Economic growth interests the whole public, because without growth, the unemployment rate would be 15%."
"Galei Zahal": Other countries don’t have Israel's cost of living.
Steinitz: "We must fight and there are ways of doing so. The main way is to prevent over-concentration and to increase competition. Just as I took the Sheshinski committee and succeeded in passing legislation that will benefit the Israeli people by hundreds of billions of shekels, I will fight on this field too. Just yesterday, the minister of industry and I decided to open the dairy market to imports and to lower the target price of milk."
Steinitz denied that this was spin, saying, "I think that you've got a nerve, because you're ignoring the facts. By the end of 2011, there will be a change in home prices, and I'm not the only one saying so; so does the Bank of Israel and other experts."
The price of products at supermarkets will fall by just ten agorot, and the country is fuming over this.
"You're wrong, and I don’t know where you got that calculation. The price will fall by much more. We launched a process yesterday, and the results will be gradual and ongoing. Within a few years, we'll see price for dairy products fall by tens of percent."
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