The legislative caucuses yesterday failed to reach a conclusion on how to handle President Chen Shui-bian's (
Whips from all caucuses except the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union were present at the negotiation hosted by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
After the talks, Wang said that if he could not help the caucuses reach a consensus on Monday, he would not host another negotiation but instead allow the Procedure Committee to consider the request directly.
This means that if the Monday negotiation fails to come up with a conclusion, the request will be considered in the Procedure Committee the next day, but there is no certainty about how the committee will handle the request, especially as it is dominated by pan-blue lawmakers.
"Today's negotiation proceeded in a relaxed and lively atmosphere, but there was no conclusion. The negotiation will continue next Monday. Before that, the caucuses shall investigate and decide on two subjects first: the content of the address, and how the address should proceed if there is one," Wang said after the negotiation.
During the talks, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus and the Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus said they would officially propose to invite the president to the legislature to deliver a state-of-the-nation address, and hoped the legislature could hold an extra sitting on Oct. 7 to accommodate the event.
Wang said after the meeting that he would have the pan-green proposal reviewed in the Procedure Committee together with the request.
While the pan-green caucuses wanted the president to deliver the address as soon as possible, the pan-blue caucuses insisted that related laws should be amended to regulate the format and procedure of the state-of-the-union address before the president delivers the address.
"The address should abide by the law, and if the caucuses can reach a consensus, the address can proceed in any format, and it can take place before the election too," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (
But DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"The lack of an outcome means that the pan-blue camp is avoiding the issue, and pan-blue lawmakers are trying to delay the address," Ker said.
Meanwhile, a source yesterday said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had invited the presidents of all five Yuans to a meal next Monday.
The invitation comes after Chen's recent request to the legislature to present a state-of-the-nation address and promulgation of the pan-blue supported March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (
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