President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed administrative officials and lawmakers to strengthen communications before the new legislative session opens next week, adding that he expected the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to help promote government policies more effectively.
Ma, who doubles as KMT chairman, called for better communication between the party, the Cabinet and the legislative caucus after listening to the new Cabinet’s policy report presented by Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) at the party’s weekly meeting with top officials.
Chen outlined the Cabinet’s priorities for this year, with the free economic demonstration zones, the Taoyuan Aerotropolis and pension reform proposals topping the agenda.
Thorny issues such as whether the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), should start operations and the floating fuel price mechanism, which sparked public complaints about price increases during the Lunar New Year holiday, will also be addressed as lawmakers have paid close attention to the government’s policies on the issues, Chen said.
“The cooperation between the party, the legislative branch and the executive branch is very important, and we expect better communication between the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan because it is crucial for the government to push forth policies,” he said at KMT headquarters.
Poor communication between the executive and the legislative branches contributed to the Ma administration’s difficulty in promoting government policies last year.
Ma has instructed the party and the Executive Yuan to strengthen the negotiation platform between the government and the legislative caucus.
In response to Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) call for the new Cabinet to focus on the economy to improve people’s livelihoods amid the accelerating global economic recovery, KMT spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said the party and the Cabinet were working hard to improve communication with the opposition parties, adding that cooperation with the opposition camp remained a goal of the government.
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