TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said the Cabinet may apply for constitutional interpretation if opposition parties continue to reject and seek changes to government budget bills.
In a Facebook post published Friday (Oct. 18), Cho said it was regrettable that budget negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties failed on Thursday (Oct. 17). In the post he outlined his reasons why constitutional interpretation may be needed to solve the impasse.
First, Cho noted an article in Taiwan’s Constitution that states the legislature can not propose spending increases in budgets prepared by the Cabinet. "The Cabinet is a constitutional organ and must not violate the principles and spirit of the Constitution, and the same is true for the legislature,” he said in the post.
Cho also noted an article in Taiwan’s budget law that states legislators must seek comment from the Cabinet when proposing bills that increase annual expenditures by a large amount.
There have previously been cases when the legislature and Cabinet agreed to increase funding for items via consultation, Cho said, adding there is nothing wrong with this practice.
However, he said, in this case consultations were not carried out. For this reason, he questioned if the legislative changes that increased funding were legal.
Cho warned that if legislators are allowed to oppose the budget bills in this way, it may set a precedent for unconstitutional actions in the future. Cho said that it is for this reason the Cabinet may ask for a constitutional interpretation.
Since September, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) have used their legislative majority to vote down the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led Cabinet’s budget bills.
During Cabinet-opposition negotiations on Thursday, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) criticized the DPP for not coming up with solutions to issues that have stalled budget negotiations since the bills were introduced.
Fu said these issues include funding for government acquisition of public food stocks, reimbursements for medical facilities, and Indigenous logging ban compensation payments.
