Taoyuan County Commissioner Eric Chu (朱立倫) criticized the Executive Yuan yesterday for compromising on its proposal to streamline the executive branch.
“The proposed amendment was a product of compromise. I hoped the Executive Yuan would have more idealism,” Chu told a forum organized by the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission on the amendment to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法).
The amendment would cut the number of Executive Yuan agencies by about one-third, from 37 to 29, including 13 ministries, nine commissions, three independent agencies and four subordinate bodies.
The amendment is under review in the legislature’s Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. It has faced fierce opposition from the Democratic Progressive Party.
“I don’t understand why the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics was not merged with the Ministry of Finance and why the National Palace Museum remains a standalone agency under the Executive Yuan instead of being defined as an ‘administrative legal person,’” Chu said, who is also a deputy chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Chu said the amendment might have been watered down because the Executive Yuan could not stand up to the pressure from certain agencies and interest groups.
Chu also said he was worried that efforts to get civil servants to apply for early retirement would lead to a lack of qualified personnel.
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