But now while it seems that the council will approve the bill with amendments made by the Parliament on it, the government has set other plans on its agenda.
The parliamentary adviser of the government, Iraj Nadimi told Khabar Online correspondent that the administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made an utmost effort to prevent from sending the bill to the Expediency Council and wants to resolve its problems with the Parliament through the Guardian Council.
The first plan is to contain the bill within the framework of the Fifth Development Plan which includes the establishment of a special fund based on revenues recovered from subsidy cuts.
According to Nadimi these plans include the withdrawal of subsidy reform bill, or making amendments to it. However both methods will bring their own problems. For example when the Guardian Council decides on the bill, the government cannot withdrew it. So the government should make its own suggestion before the official statement of the Guardian Council is made.
Qolam Reza Mesbahi Moqaddam, the head of a special committee of the Parliament tasked with studying the economy reform project met the secretary of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Jannati last night and a discussion on the issue of subsidy bill has been quite probable. In fact as a pro-government MP, Mesbahi Moqaddam could have asked about the idea of the Guardian Council on the bill. When it is realized that the Council's decision will not meet the demands of the government, he can announce the government to withdraw subsidy reform bill from the Parliament.
But if the government submits a letter of withdrawal to the Parliament, there would be no room for further complaints, since the Parliament Speaker, Ali Larijani can cite the statement made by the Guardian Council and confirm that the Parliament's ratification was legal and approved by the Guardian Council. Previously while the Parliament was studying the budget bill for Iranian year of 1388 (began on March 21, 2009), the government claimed that the entity has transgressed the rules although the allegation was not proved.
So making amendments to the bill by the government appears to be the next plan although it had been proposed to the government by the lawmakers from a time ago, but the former was stressing on subsidy reform bill to be passed exactly in a format which it desired.
Meanwhile asking for the arbitration of Iran's Supreme Leader is one of the other ways proposed to settle the differences between the government and the Parliament. When Ahmadnejad paid an unannounced visit to the Parliament, he made a complaint about the Parliament decision on establishing a unique account instead of a fund and said that he will ask the assistance of the supreme leader to resolve the issue.