TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Legislative Yuan will move to the next phase of its review of the central government budget after Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) presents a report on April 21, lawmakers decided Wednesday.
The opposition KMT and TPP have used their majority at the legislature to prevent the central government budget and a special defense budget from moving forward. On Wednesday afternoon, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) presided over talks between the party caucuses to discuss the handling of the budgets, CNA reported.
At the end of the talks, Han said the sides had signed an agreement for Cho to deliver a report on the budget on Tuesday, April 21. The government budget chief and the finance minister also need to be present and to face questions from lawmakers after Cho’s presentation.
The Legislative Yuan will then refer the budget to the committee stage for review, Han said. He added that the caucuses had agreed that within six months, the government needed to propose amendments related to wages and benefits for military and police personnel.
However, the issue of the defense budget still needed further negotiation, the Liberty Times reported. The Ministry of National Defense will present a report to the legislative Foreign Affairs and National Defense committee next week before a new round of talks between the caucuses, Han said. He said he hoped to discuss more details about procurement and spending.
