Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i spoke about opposition to reforms of the public servant pension system in an interview with ‘Liberty Times’ (sister paper of the ‘Taipei Times’) staff reporter Jennifer Huang, saying public support is at a historical high and that reforms are crucial to avoid bankrupting the system
Taipei Times
Date: May 01, 2017
Translated by staff writers William Hetherington and Jake Chung
Liberty Times (LT): Despite public opinion polls showing 80 percent support for the
Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i speaks in an interview in Taipei on April 19.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
reforms, misconceptions and opposing voices remain. Should these be addressed and clarified?
Lin Wan-i (林萬億): The biggest point of contention has always been about violation of the principal of legitimate expectation if reforms are retroactively applied. However, the reforms have never called for retroactive application, meaning there has never been a plan for previously distributed pensions to be returned. The reforms focus on changes that are to be applied to the future implementation of the system.
The Council of Grand Justices in 2014 passed Constitutional Interpretation No. 717, which clearly explains that if the nation’s interests are at stake, cuts to pensions are to be allowed. Therefore, adjustment of the 18 percent preferential interest rate is not a violation of constitutional law.
The reforms are intended to rescue the pension system and allow it to do much more for the public good, safeguarding the interests of aging civil service pensioners and protecting the nation’s finances; it is absolutely not a violation of the principal of legitimate expectation. [FULL INTERVIEW]
