"The government must serve the public, not the other way around. We will introduce fundamental reform in the public service," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recorded speech at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society (formerly the Caesarea Economic Forum), which took place today in Haifa.
Netanyahu is waging war on the inflated public sector, and said that service can be streamlined through targeted service, and that the reform must include promoting employees, firing employees who are inefficient and who do not serve the public, and more. "These things are difficult, but essential," said the prime minister.
Netanyahu went on to say, "Israel is suffering from a surplus of regulation in many areas. It is very difficult to operate if there are too many regulators, when everyone tells everyone else what to do and does not necessarily see the financial cost of reforms. We want to put in place order and norms for public regulation."
IDI President Yohanan Plesner said at the conference, "These reforms are necessary in order for us to remain a competitive economy and in order to regain citizen trust in the public system and in democracy. The social justice protests taught us that the citizen wants to see a government that works for him - we at the Israel Democracy Institute intend to take the ideas, to develop them, and to lead the way to a changed reality in the State of Israel."
President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, Governor of the Bank of Israel Dr. Karnit Flug, Israel Chief of Police Yohanan Danino, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira, and Ministers Tzipi Livni, Yisrael Katz, Shai Piron, and Yael German are also scheduled to speak at the conference today and tomorrow.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 3, 2014
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