A special legislative session is likely to be postponed after party caucuses at the Legislative Yuan yesterday failed to schedule a date for holding preparatory discussions.
Discord between the pan-blue and pan-green camps on negotiations of what should be reviewed during the special session caused the legislature to fail to set a date for the session.
The DPP insisted that a legislative review of six key finance bills should top the agenda for the special session, arguing that the bills are key to economic reforms.
"It is urgent for the Legislative Yuan to ratify the draft bills on economic and financial reform, while referendum legislation could be postponed until the next legislative session," said DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (
Chen got support from his TSU colleagues, who think that legislators should take care of the bills before the next legislative session.
But the blue-camp wants to ensure that the legislature reviews a bill to allow for referendums at the beginning of the special session.
Pan-blue lawmakers yesterday secured 66 signatures and filed a petition that requests that the special session be used to vote on referendum legislation.
The negotiations have delayed the special session, which was expected to convene around Wednesday or Sunday, because the unresolved meeting resulted in a postponement of last Friday's party meeting, which was planned as a preparatory meeting for the proposed session before Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's (王金平) departure for the US last week.
Wang finished his US trip yesterday morning and hosted the negotiations after he returned.
Another cause for the postponed session was the legislature's failure to review six key bills, after lawmakers only agreed on basic wages for foreign laborers in free ports.
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