The team that researched the “Legal and ethical aspects of Israel’s integration in the global economy and the OECD” for IDI’s Caesarea Forum, has formulated recommendations concerning the private, public, and business sectors. The goal of the recommendations is to accelerate Israel’s integration into the leading OECD states and the global economy, and to make its integration not only an economic matter, but an objective for promoting the quality of the public and private sectors in Israel. The recommendations include: developing tools for compensating and rewarding senior executives in the business sector and establishing clear rules in advance to limit the “principal-agent problem” and the negative feelings that accompany this phenomenon. The goal is also to cause courts of ethics to be established for ministers, publicly-elected officials, and senior employees.
Main recommendations
The Public Sector
- Regulating rules of lobbying in legislative activity. A list of lobbyists and the organizations they represent should be compiled, and a periodic report should be filed on lobbying activity, including the goal and cost of the activity. A cooling-off period is recommended, during which MKs or senior civil servants would not be able to act as lobbyists upon the completion of their term of office. Rules for lobbying in the Knesset and in the public sector should be regulated. The guiding principle should be that more than one representative of the public sector should always attend meetings with interested parties.
- Instating a paid cooling-off period for senior employees. Cooling-off rules should be regulated for senior public servants, and they should be permitted to move to the private sector after a paid cooling-off period. Civil servants are currently subject to an obligatory unpaid cooling-off period, and this creates a distorted situation and bears potential for ethical and legal misconduct.
- Establishing an ethics-based disciplinary court. A system of disciplinary law should be created for ministers and elected officials, as well as public servants, on the basis of ethical codes that will be published in advance.
- Strengthening non-governmental public review bodies. Public review bodies that operate independent of the government should be strengthened by means of government budgeting or on the basis of a mandatory fee on behalf of public review bodies, in the sphere of consumer affairs and the environment. These bodies will operate according to state criteria that will be determined by law.
- Completing legislation on increasing the enforcement of laws and ethics.
- Maintaining long terms of office for the public position of director general of government ministries and directors of governmental authorities. Maintaining these periods of time will lead to stability in the public sector and will prevent political damage by regulating selection methods and by ending the term in a manner that will not be considered an appointment of trust.
- Establishing a statutory economic-social council and creating a multi-annual government plan for care of vulnerable groups.
- Completing structural reforms regarding monopolies and completing the privatization of government commercial bodies, after regulating competition and reducing economic concentration.
- Restoring the prestige of the public service and reducing over-legalization. It is important to preserve broad exercise of judgment for public servants. The use of ethical tools will strengthen this trend.
- Adopting ethical codes and service charters in the public sector. The preparation of ethical codes should be completed for elected officials (ministers), judges, government ministries, and public authorities. This endeavor should be led