House Debate To Cover All Four Decrees: Pm Yingluck

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House debate to cover all four decrees, PM says

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told yesterday's Cabinet meeting that today's parliamentary debate on the executive decrees authorising borrowing to fund flood-prevention projects should cover all four decrees - including the two that are the subject of an Opposition petition to the Constitution Court, a government spokesman said.

Yingluck told the Cabinet the four decrees were interconnected and that the House Speaker had not yet forwarded to the court the petition seeking a ruling on the constitutionality of two of the decrees, according to deputy government spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard.

The opposition Democrat Party on Monday filed a petition, supported by 128 opposition MPs, asking the House Speaker to seek a court ruling on whether two of the four decrees were constitutional. The petition focused on one decree that would empower the Finance Ministry to borrow Bt350 billion to fund flood-prevention projects, and another that would shift the Bt1.14 trillion public debts incurred during the 1997 financial crisis to the central bank.

Senior government figures had expressed concern that the emergency decrees would be delayed after the petition was filed.

At yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong expressed confidence that the decrees did not violate the Constitution, according to the spokesman.

Kittiratt was quoted as saying that the main point to be considered by the court was whether the urgency of the situation warranted the Cabinet's issuance of the emergency decrees without parliamentary endorsement.

Article 184 of the Constitution states that an emergency decree shall be issued and have the force of an act for the purpose of maintaining national or public safety or national economic security, or averting public calamity. Such an emergency decree shall be issued only when the Cabinet agrees that an emergency exists, making the measure unavoidable. In the first sitting of Parliament after the issuing of a decree, the Cabinet is required to submit the measure to Parliament for its consideration without delay.

Anusorn challenged opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is also the Democrat Party leader, to step down if the court rules that the decrees are constitutional.

He said the government was confident the decrees would pass Parliament easily.

Prime Minister's Office Minister Woravat Auapinyakul told the Cabinet that the coalition MPs' debate would cover all four decrees, although the voting would be confined to the two decrees not targeted by the Opposition's petition, Anusorn said.

The Cabinet agreed that these two decrees became effective last Thursday, the spokesman said.

Earlier yesterday, a group of 68 senators filed their own petition seeking judicial review on the constitutionality of the decree concerning the transfer of the Bt1.14-trillion debt.

The senators, led by Khamnoon Sitthisaman, said the debt decree might not be constitutional because the government had cited a false urgency to justify the decree when the actual situation was not dire.

Khamnoon said even former finance minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala had conceded the government's fiscal position was strong enough for additional borrowing without having to window dress the state's financial accounts.

Many saw the decree as an attempt to manipulate the accounting rules in order to deflate the public debt, and allow the government to take out more loans.

Abhisit said he expected the Constitution Court to hand down its ruling within a month. The government is, meanwhile, obliged to put the two decrees on hold pending the judicial decision.

-- The Nation 2012-02-01