民自公党首会談 首相が守り一辺倒では困る

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct. 21, 2012)
Prime minister should compromise on dissolution
民自公党首会談　首相が守り一辺倒では困る（10月20日付・読売社説）

The three major political parties--the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito--finally held a summit meeting Friday, but it quickly broke down. The three parties should seriously try to find common ground to resolve a mountain of issues.
　ようやく開催された民主、自民、公明３党の党首会談は、あっさりと物別れに終わった。山積する課題を解決するため、３党は、もっと積極的に妥協点を探るべきだ。

During the meeting with LDP President Shinzo Abe and New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda asked them for their cooperation to tackle key issues such as the passage of a bill allowing the government to issue deficit-covering bonds.
　野田首相が自民党の安倍総裁、公明党の山口代表と会談し、赤字国債発行を可能にする特例公債法案の成立などへ協力要請した。

However, Noda was coy about the timing of a dissolution of the House of Representatives for a general election, saying only, "It's a grave matter" that must be considered. During three-party talks in August, Noda said the dissolution of the lower house would be carried out "sometime soon." The opposition party leaders urged him to specify the timing Friday as a condition for their cooperation, but he did not do so.
　首相は焦点の衆院解散・総選挙について、８月の３党首会談での「近いうち」との自らの発言を「重たい確認事項」と述べるにとどめた。安倍氏らは政権への協力の前提として解散時期の明示を求めたが、首相は応じなかった。

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Discuss issues in Diet

It is understandable that Abe and Yamaguchi argued Noda's "sometime soon" statement concerning dissolution of the lower house is a pledge to the people.
　首相が明言した「近いうち」の解散は「国民との約束」だとする安倍氏らの主張は理解できる。

The opposition party leaders said they would not cooperate in passing the legislation without a definite pledge to dissolve the lower house and would boycott Diet deliberations after submitting to the House of Councillors a censure motion against Noda. This stance is unlikely to win public support for their parties.
　ただ、衆院解散の確約なしでは法案成立に協力しないとか、参院の首相問責決議を理由に国会審議を拒否する、といった姿勢では、国民の理解は得られまい。

An extraordinary Diet session is expected to start on Oct. 29. We think the opposition parties should grill the government about problems, such as what appears to be misuse of the budget for disaster reconstruction, through Diet discussions.
　臨時国会は２９日に召集される方向だ。むしろ論戦を通じて、震災復興予算の「転用」など、政府の問題点を追及する方が、自公両党にとっても得策のはずである。

Meanwhile, we view the maneuvers currently taken by the Noda side as more problematic. More than three weeks have been wasted between the time Noda met with the then LDP leader and the three-party talks Friday. This apparently resulted from Noda's stance of placing priority on delaying a decision on a general election to buy time.
　より問題なのが、野田首相側の対応だ。民主、自民両党の党首選から党首会談の開催まで３週間以上が無為に経過した。苦戦が予想される衆院選の先送りを優先し、“時間稼ぎ”を続けた結果だ。

His instruction to his Cabinet members to draw up a new economic stimulus package by the end of November is also a tepid move. This is no doubt part of his strategy to put off the dissolution of the lower house.
　１１月中の緊急経済対策の策定も中途半端で、解散先送り策の一環だろう。

If he wants to effectively stave off an economic slowdown, the prime minister should ensure the extraordinary Diet session is long enough to formulate and then pass a more substantial supplementary budget, instead of tapping budget reserves.
景気減速に本格的に歯止めをかけるのなら、予備費の活用でなく、臨時国会の会期を十分確保し、実効性のある補正予算を編成・成立させるのが筋だ。

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Noda's 3 proposals

During the meeting Friday, Noda proposed the opposition leaders work together with him on three issues to pave the way for the lower house dissolution: drawing up rules for handling a draft budget and a deficit bond bill together; correcting the wide disparity in the value of votes in lower house elections; and setting up a national council for debate on social security system reforms.
　野田首相は会談で、衆院解散に向けた「環境整備」として、特例公債法案と予算案の一体処理のルール作り、衆院選の「１票の格差」是正、社会保障制度改革国民会議の設置の３点を挙げた。

The idea of making rules on the deficit bond bill is praiseworthy as it seems to be a constructive proposal that could avert blocking the issuance of deficit-covering bonds in the divided Diet.
　特例公債法案に関するルール作りは、衆参ねじれ国会の下、赤字国債が発行できない事態を回避する建設的な提案と評価できる。

As for the vote disparity, Noda only proposed that the issue, which includes reducing the number of lawmakers, be discussed again by party secretaries general. Can such discussions lead to an agreement between the DPJ and the opposition parties?
　だが、「１票の格差」是正では、定数削減問題も含めて幹事長協議に再び委ねるという提案にとどまった。これで野党と合意できるのか。

The ruling party should give the nod to the proposal by the LDP and other opposition parties to reduce five single-seat constituencies of the lower house as a first step for electoral reforms.
自民党などの主張する小選挙区の「０増５減」の先行処理に同意すべきである。

After Friday's talks, Abe expressed his disappointment with Noda for his failure to present a new proposal on the timing for the lower house dissolution. Noda will not be able to break the current deadlock if he remains defensive.
　安倍氏は会談後、衆院解散の時期に関する「新提案」がなかったことについて「失望した」と語った。首相も、守りの姿勢一辺倒では今の局面を打開できまい。

The government and ruling party cannot fulfill their responsibility as long as they regard pushing back the dissolution as the best answer.
　「解散先送りが第一」では、政府・与党の責任を果たせない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 20, 2012)
（2012年10月20日01時52分 読売新聞）