News
Lai signs constitutional bill into law
Measures adopted by the Legislative Yuan (LY) to raise the thresholds for Constitutional Court rulings will take effect tomorrow after being promulgated by President Lai Ching-te.
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo says Lai signed the amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act into law despite his opposition to the revisions.
Kuo said Lai firmly believes the amendments disrupt the Constitutional Court's operations, usurp the judicial authorities' powers and undermine the principle of separation of powers among government branches. Kuo says Lai is calling for a Constitutional Court ruling on the constitutionality of the amendments.
The DPP legislative caucus has already petitioned the Constitutional Court to seek an injunction to halt enforcement of the measures and a judgment to have them revoked.
However, the revisions require a minimum of 10 justices to hear and rule on a case, and it remains unclear whether the Constitutional Court, which normally has 15 justices but currently has only eight, can review such a case.
Lai previously nominated seven candidates to replace those whose eight-year terms ended on October 31 of last year, but all were rejected by the legislature. Lai has yet to select any new nominees.
In unrelated news from the LY, Premier Cho Jung-tai says the cabinet is considering asking the legislature to hold a revote on the recently adopted central government general budget plan for 2025. The revised plan passed includes NT$207.6 billion of cuts to the cabinet's original budget proposal. That figure is an approximately 6.6% reduction.
According to Cho, requesting the legislature hold a revote on a bill deemed difficult to implement is "the right and obligation of the Executive Yuan under Article 3 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution." The premier is claiming the spending cuts and budget freezes will "paralyze government operations" and cause "immeasurable damage" to the nation and the cabinet is also seeking other "remedies" to overturn the NT$2.92 trillion budget plan passed by lawmakers. The legislature has not yet submitted the approved budget plan to the cabinet, meaning the government will likely have to wait until after the Lunar New Year holiday to take the premier's "remedies. "
The budget cuts include slashing NT$100 billion in funding for Taipower and freezing an estimated NT$160 billion in funding for various government agencies, including the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
