臨時国会 強引な運営はもう通用しない

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jul. 24, 2010)
No room for arrogance in Diet affairs
臨時国会　強引な運営はもう通用しない（7月23日付・読売社説）

The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to open Budget Committee meetings in both Diet chambers during an extraordinary session to be convened at the end of this month.
　月末から始まる臨時国会で、衆参両院の予算委員会が開かれることが決まった。

It is unusual for the legislature to call Budget Committee sessions so soon after a House of Councillors election. However, the ruling camp has bowed to strong demands from the opposition bloc to hold such discussions.
　参院選直後の国会での予算委開催は異例だが、野党が強く要求し、与党もこれを受け入れた。

These meetings should have been convened during the last ordinary Diet session--namely, before the July 11 upper house election. This would have enabled Prime Minister Naoto Kan to wage a battle of words with the opposition parties for the first time since he took office.
　だが、菅首相が予算委で野党と初めて論戦をかわす場は本来、参院選前の通常国会だったはずだ。

However, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan rejected opposition demands for Budget Committee sessions, and refused to extend the last Diet session. The DPJ's move apparently reflected its belief that the party would fare better in the election if the poll took place while the Cabinet was buoyed by high popular support generated by Kan's replacement of his unpopular predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama.
それなのに民主党は、首相交代で内閣支持率が高いうちに選挙をした方が有利とみて予算委を拒み、国会会期を延長しなかった。

The DPJ also refused to open a plenary session of the upper chamber, turning a deaf ear, in effect, to a no-confidence motion submitted against upper house President Satsuki Eda by the opposition camp. The DPJ feared the motion would be narrowly adopted.
　加えて、野党が提出した江田参院議長への不信任決議案なども不測の事態を恐れて事実上黙殺し、本会議を開会しなかった。

The DPJ's high-handed approach to Diet management was a ploy repeatedly used by the party's preceding top brass led by former party Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa and others.
　強引な国会運営は、そもそも小沢一郎・前幹事長ら前執行部が繰り返してきたことだ。

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Move came too late

The DPJ's concession to opposition demands for Budget Committee meetings comes too late. The ruling party should seriously reflect on its conduct in steering Diet sessions. The DPJ must end its overbearing attitude toward the opposition bloc and, instead, seek a dialogue with the rival camp.
　遅きに失したとはいえ、野党に歩み寄って予算委の開催に応じたのを機に、民主党は、これまでの国会運営を厳しく反省し、野党との話し合いを重視する姿勢に転換する必要がある。

A spate of politics-and-money scandals involving some DPJ members--most notably Ozawa--remain unresolved. During its days in power, the Liberal Democratic Party accepted opposition demands for scandal-tainted party members, including former prime ministers, to testify in the Diet about their problems. Given this, the DPJ has no reason to keep rejecting demands for its scandal-hit lawmakers and others to be summoned before the legislature.
　小沢氏らの「政治とカネ」の問題は依然、未解決のままだ。自民党の場合、疑惑を持たれた政治家は、首相経験者を含めて国会招致に応じてきた。関係者の招致を拒み続けるのは筋が通らない。

The DPJ forcibly arranged for a plenary session of the House of Representatives to vote on a postal reform bill after only six hours of discussions on the legislation at a lower house committee. The bill was eventually scrapped in the last Diet session. Nevertheless, the DPJ should stop slighting Diet debates.
　廃案になった郵政改革法案は、わずか６時間の委員会審議だけで採決した。審議軽視の態度も改めるべきだ。

The DPJ's defeat in the July 11 election created a divided Diet. This has made it difficult for the DPJ to bulldoze bills through the Diet.
　衆参「ねじれ」国会となり、民主党は、強引に法律を成立させることは困難になった。

These circumstances have apparently encouraged the DPJ to maintain a low profile in dealing with the opposition camp. What is truly required of the DPJ, however, is to end its arrogant Diet management, an approach resulting from its numerical strength in the lower house.
　こうした事情が、民主党に低姿勢を促しているのだろうが、民主党に求められるのは、数を頼った驕(おご)りの姿勢からの脱却である。

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Opposition must play ball

Meanwhile, we hope the opposition parties will behave sensibly. While an opposition party, the DPJ repeatedly rejected government proposals on personnel affairs at important institutions subject to Diet approval. In those days, the LDP-New Komeito coalition had an overwhelming majority in the lower house, while the upper chamber was controlled by the opposition camp.
　野党側にも、常識的な対応を求めたい。民主党は野党時代、「ねじれ」国会の下、政府提案の国会同意人事にノーを連発した経緯がある。

The LDP and other opposition parties should not act out of spiteful retaliation toward the DPJ under the circumstances.
野党がこれに対して意趣返しするのは禁物だ。

The upper house will elect its new president and vice president at the outset of the forthcoming extraordinary Diet session.
　注目されるのは、臨時国会の冒頭で行う正副議長人事だ。

The opposition camp has insisted Eda not be reelected as upper house president, saying he failed to steer the chamber fairly.
　野党側は、公正な国会運営をしなかったとして江田議長の再任を拒んでいる。

However, the opposition parties' bid to choose a new upper house president from their camp is little more than an abuse of their numerical strength for deciding Diet matters. This would run counter to the long-running practice of selecting the upper house president from the predominant party in the chamber--currently the DPJ--and choosing the vice president from the second-largest party in the house.
だが、「比較第１党から議長、第２党から副議長」の慣例に背いて、議長ポストまで狙うのは、それこそ数を頼みにした対応で、問題が多い。

The election of the upper house president and vice president will be the first test of whether the Diet can become a citadel of cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties. We hope both sides will properly discuss the selection of the upper chamber's president and vice president.
　与野党協調の国会に改まるかどうか、最初の関門だ。与野党はしっかり協議を重ねてほしい。

The upcoming Budget Committee sessions are expected to focus on such issues as the politics-and-money scandals and Kan's recent remarks about a possible increase in the consumption tax rate. We hope lawmakers will engage in lively verbal battles during the all-too-brief extraordinary session.
　予算委では、前国会からの政治とカネの問題や、消費税増税をめぐる菅首相の発言などが論点になりそうだ。限られた日数ではあるが、活発な論戦を期待したい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 23, 2010)
（2010年7月23日01時55分 読売新聞）