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Parties fail to agree on extra legislative session

The four political parties in the legislature were at odds yesterday over whether the Legislative Yuan should gather for an extraordinary session to work on bills considered urgent by the government.

Legislator William Lai (賴清德), the legislative whip of ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said he hopes the legislature will gather for a special session after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has chosen its new chairman on July 16.

Citing a special budget for arms purchases and the confirmation of the president's nominees for members of the Control Yuan as examples, Lai said several bills and proposed revisions to some existing laws are urgently needed by the Executive Yuan and have to be enacted immediately.

Lai said his caucus will move before July 16 for an extra legislative session after July 16 and he expressed hope that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who is running for the KMT chairmanship, will convene inter-party negotiations to decide the exact date.

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), which is a political ally of the DPP, supported his view.

Legislator Huang Shih-cho (黃適卓), the TSU deputy convener at the Legislative Yuan, said the just-concluded session that ran from February to May enacted 46 bills, which is the lowest number since 1999 and has seriously hindered the administration's agenda.

To address the problem, Huang said, an extra legislative session is needed, with the bills to be debated not necessarily limited to the arms budget and confirmation of the Control Yuan nominees.

The KMT and its political ally the People First Party (PFP), however, do not see the necessity for any extra legislative meeting.

Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), KMT legislative whip, said his party believes an extraordinary session should be called only for dealing with constitutional issues, of which none are pending in the legislature. Ordinary bills can be dealt with during regular sessions, Tseng said.

The PFP concurred with the KMT, with its legislative convener, Legislator Chen Chih-ping (陳志彬), claiming that the arms purchase had already been rejected by voters in a national referendum on March 20 last year. He added that he does not see any urgency which would require the legislature to deal with it in an extra session.

As to the president's nominees for the Control Yuan, Tseng said, their names were presented to the previous legislature, which ended its term in January.

The current legislature has not been asked by the president to confirm his nominees for the Control Yuan, so the legislature is not in a position to exercise its right to approve these nominees, whether or not there is an extra session.

The president presented his 29 nominees to the legislature last December but was asked to withdraw the list on the grounds that some of those nominated did not live up to public expectations.

The president refused to retract the list and the legislature refused to act on it. The political impasse continued after the new legislature gathered for its first session in February.
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