The legislature reached a consensus yesterday to invite Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) to report on his administrative plan when the fall legislative session begins on Sept. 19.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who convened cross-party negotiations on the issue yesterday morning, said he hoped the legislature would complete the review of the government’s budget requests for the next fiscal year by the end of December.
“The premier’s administrative report is a must on the first day of the session,” he said.
“We also hope to put the government’s fiscal budget requests to review as soon as possible and complete the review by the end of this year instead of stalling it till January or February,” he said.
The Budget Act (預算法) stipulates that the budget requests must be passed by the legislature at least one month before the end of the current fiscal year and be promulgated by the president 15 days before that.
Wang said the premier, the head of the Directorate General of Budget, AAccounting and Statistics and the minister of finance would be invited to report on the budget requests on Sept. 26 and Sept. 30.
The legislature would then deal with the president’s nominations for the Council of Grand Justices, the president of the Examination Yuan and vice president of the Control Yuan next month, he A.
Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Hsi-shan (林錫山) said on Monday that the Presidential Office should submit its lists to the legislature by Sept. 22. If the Cabinet decided to propose reduction of stock transaction tax, the legislature would also complete its review of the proposal quickly, Wang said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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