High Court: Inconceivable that there is no timeline for state budget

During the hearing, the judges demanded to hear the government’s explanation concerning its violation of the Budget Law, but the state representative was unable to provide clear answers. Chief Justice Esther Hayut wondered how “the government is in violation of the law and has no explanation for this.”

Justice Neal Hendel stressed that “it is inconceivable for the state to not have a timetable for submitting the budget proposal.”

During the hearing, State Representative Daniel Marks argued before the judges that the reason for not passing a budget was due to an ongoing political crisis and called it an “exceptional situation.”

The judges were unconvinced and repeatedly demanded clear answers. “What is the reason that a budget for 2020 was not approved on the highway?” asked Hayut.

“How can this be justified from the perspective of the Knesset? Transferring this budget is one of the most important and basic functions of the Knesset,” Hendel said.

“Why was no bill submitted for the passing of the budget?” asked Hendel again. “I have no answer,” replied Marks. “What kind of answer is this?” responded Hayut. “The government is in violation of a law and my lady has no explanation for this?”

“An important and principled discussion,” said a spokesman for the National Responsibility Movement, Gilad Barnea, an expert in public law. “The judges were attentive and also raised on their own initiative the fact that the government is in violation of a Basic Law since no budget was submitted for either 2020 or 2021. The expectation is that the court will say significant things about the move itself and about the future.”

The movement claims that the amendment to the Basic Laws of the Knesset and the State Economy are unconstitutional and that the Knesset has abused its authority. In the petition, the movement asks the court for a declaratory order, stating that the amendment of the Basic Law is fundamentally void “in view of the serious violation of the principle of separation of powers and the need for the Knesset to supervise the government through the budget.”

The movement stated that “the ‘detailed action plan,’ in which NIS 11 billion was added to the state budget, is in fact an unapproved budget.”

In addition, they will file a petition by the National Responsibility Movement, which demands that Basic Law: Knesset, which gives the government the option of distributing NIS 11 billion without public transparency, and compliance with legal and other criteria, is illegal and should be repealed.

The petition calls this an “open check” and demands that the court repeal the section in the Basic Law enacted by the Knesset that gives the government this option. In fact, this is a temporary order that postpones the approval of the state budget from August to December this year, and adds NIS 11 billion to the existing budget.

“The government has acted abruptly in a way that fatally damages democracy and the state budget management procedures,” said Barnea. “This [was done] through the creation of an ‘open check’ of NIS 11 billion, for distribution without transparency, without public participation, without distinctions and without complying with basic rules of equality – and, above all, to satisfy coalition needs. “It is unconstitutional and unequal so we went to court to determine that this action should be revoked,” he said.