EY to petition for interpretation of opposition’s pension bill

EY to petition for interpretation of opposition’s pension bill

2025-12-26

Feuding between the Executive Yuan and opposition parties seems to have no end in sight. This time it’s over a pension reform plan initiated by former DPP president Tsai Ing-wen. The KMT and TPP recently used their majority to put a halt to Tsai’s cuts to pensions for the military, officials and teachers. But the government opposes the suspension, saying that it will strike a severe blow at the nation’s coffers. As the Constitutional Court has resumed operations, the Executive Yuan will countersign the bill and then immediately petition the constitutional court for an interpretation.

The opposition controlled Legislative Yuan has passed a bill halting a Tsai-era pension reform that the Executive Yuan planned to not promulgate. But now that the Constitutional Court is operating again, it’s taking a new approach.

The Executive Yuan has decided to countersign this bill but not put it into force. Instead it will file a petition for a constitutional interpretation. As for the option of requesting the legislature to reconsider the pension bill, as previous requests for reconsideration were never supported by opposition parties, the Executive Yuan has decided not to take this route.

Michelle Lee
Executive Yuan spokesperson
Today is the deadline for the president to promulgate the anti-pension reform bill proposed by the Legislative Yuan. These anti-pension reform amendments violate Article 70 of the Constitution. However, since the Constitutional Court has resumed normal operations, after the president’s advisory document arrives, the Executive Yuan will fulfill its obligations and responsibilities. We will countersign the bill to allow it to take effect and immediately submit it to the Grand Justices for a constitutional interpretation.

Former DPP President Tsai Ing-wen promoted a pension reform with cuts that helped over NT$80 billion to be injected into the civil service retirement fund in recent years. The reforms also delayed the expected bankruptcy date from 2031 to 2050. Now that the KMT and TPP have joined forces to reverse the reform, the move is expected to have a serious impact on public finances, leaving the Executive Yuan with little choice but to respond.

Lo Chih-chiang
KMT caucus
Was this a surprise? No surprise at all. It’s very simple now. It’s finally going to be countersigned. This wasn’t easy, it just needs to be countersigned. Everyone knows that the premier can’t just arbitrarily leave things unsigned.

Rosalia Wu
Lawmaker (DPP)
The Constitutional Court has resumed operations, and we certainly expect it to act as the ultimate guardian of the people’s rights. It would be the most urgent task at hand to submit the pension reform case to the Constitutional Court for interpretation and to request a temporary injunction. As for whether and how to implement it, that needs to be discussed by the Executive Yuan, the Examination Yuan, the Ministry of Education, and even with local governments.

The opposition has tried to block the government’s pension reform. The Executive Yuan is now striking back.

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