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Premier rejects
scrapping plant without a vote
‘ILLEGAL’: The Council of Grand Justices has
ruled that the ex-DPP regime’s move to halt construction of the nuclear plant
was unconstitutional, Jiang said
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday rejected a proposal that the Executive
Yuan order an immediate halt to the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power
Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) without waiting for the
result of a referendum.
The Executive Yuan scrapping the construction unilaterally is “not an option to
be considered” because it is “unconstitutional and illegal,” Jiang told Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers at a caucus meeting.
The Council of Grand Justices had ruled that the decision by the former
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to halt the plant’s
construction in October 2000 was unconstitutional, he said.
Four months after the construction was halted, the DPP administration made a
U-turn, partly because it had dealt a huge blow to the economy and partly
because the council’s Interpretation No. 520 ruled that the directive had been
unconstitutional, Jiang said.
In the interpretation, the council said that the Executive Yuan halted the
construction without prior legislative consent, violating the principle of
separation of executive and legislative powers because the budget earmarked for
the facility had been passed by the legislature, Jiang said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed similar views on Wednesday, saying that
based on Interpretation No. 520, since the legislature has passed the budget,
the Executive Yuan is legally bound to put it into use.
The DPP has rejected Ma’s opinion on the constitutional interpretation, with DPP
Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) saying that Ma must know that the grand justices
had made it clear in the interpretation that the Executive Yuan has a mandate to
stop the construction as long as it obtains the approval of the legislature in
advance.
DPP Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday proposed that the legislature
initiate a motion to halt the construction to force the Executive Yuan to scrap
the construction without putting the issue to a referendum.
Later yesterday, when questioned by Lin at the question-and-answer session,
Jiang said he agreed that constitutionally the Executive Yuan and the
legislature could take action to stop the construction, but he raised other
concerns.
Lin asked Jiang whether the Executive Yuan would abide by a legislative
resolution that the construction be halted.
The legislature could decide the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant by
resolution because the issue is an “important affair of the state,” as
stipulated in Article 63 of the Constitution, Lin said.
In response, Jiang said he was in no position to interpret the Constitution as
to whether the issue could be considered an important affair of the state.
Under the Referendum Act (公民投票法), there is no mechanism to stop a referendum
from being held once an initiative is established, Jiang said, adding that the
result of a referendum supersedes that of a legislative resolution.
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