国会改革 党首討論の活用軸に協議せよ

国会審議中に居眠りをするような議員はいかがなものでしょうか＾＾。
とはいえ私も大学の授業ではよく居眠りしました。
通年審議は良いことなのではないでしょうか？
土日も返上で働いてこそ、議員でしょう。
（スラチャイ）

The Yomiuri Shimbun November 5, 2013
Diet deliberation reform must center around debates between party heads
国会改革　党首討論の活用軸に協議せよ（11月4日付・読売社説）

It has long been noted that the prime minister and Cabinet ministers have been tied down by Diet deliberations, which has hampered the handling of state affairs. We think the ruling and opposition camps should quickly craft new rules that improve the conducting of Diet deliberations.
　首相や閣僚が国会審議に縛られ、国政にしわ寄せが生じていると言われて久しい。与野党は、審議の改善へ新たなルール作りを急ぐべきだ。

The secretaries general of nine parties from the ruling and opposition blocs have agreed that their Diet affairs committee chiefs will jointly study concrete measures for Diet reform.
　与野党９党の幹事長は、国会対策委員長間で国会改革の具体策の検討に入ることを決めた。

The Liberal Democratic Party and its junior ruling coalition partner, New Komeito, and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), have worked out their respective reform drafts. The upcoming discussions among the parties will focus mostly on these drafts.
　自民、公明の与党と民主党、日本維新の会などは、それぞれ改革案をまとめており、そうした案を軸とした議論になる。

The ruling parties have been seeking more fruitful one-on-one debates between party leaders in the Diet, while proposing that the prime minister’s attendance at committee sessions be limited only to those of each chamber’s Budget Committee. Ishin no Kai also has called for placing higher impor-tance on Diet debates between party chiefs.
　与党は、党首討論を充実させる一方、首相の委員会出席は原則として予算委員会に限ることを提案している。維新の会も党首討論を重視することを主張している。

Japan’s prime minister attends parliamentary sessions considerably more often than prime ministers of other industrially advanced democracies.
　日本の首相は、他の先進国と比べて国会への出席が格段に多い。

This appears to be commonly recognized by all ruling and opposition parties. The ruling parties have often grumbled that the prime minister’s Diet attendance requirements make it difficult to draw up his diplomatic schedule and gives him little time to deeply ponder policy formulation.
これは与野党の共通認識だろう。与党には、外交日程を設定しにくく、首相がじっくり政策を考える時間も少ないとの不満が強い。

The prime minister should be allowed to attend fewer Diet committee sessions than is currently required. Instead, one-on-one debates between party leaders should be held more frequently and the debates lengthened significantly from the current 45 minutes. Putting these rules in place would enrich Diet deliberations with the prime minister attending, while minimi-zing the adverse impact on the administration of state affairs.
　首相は委員会に現在ほど出席しなくて済むようにする。その代わりに、党首討論の頻度を増やし、４５分間の討論時間を延長する。そうしたルールを設ければ、首相との審議を充実させ、国政への影響も抑えられるだろう。

DPJ too opportunistic

As the ruling parties and Ishin no Kai have proposed, senior vice ministers should be more effectively used to expedite Diet business. This would alleviate the burdens on Cabinet ministers in dealing with Diet affairs.
　与党や維新の会が提案するように副大臣の積極的な活用を図るべきだ。閣僚の負担軽減になる。

The DPJ’s position on the proposed reduction of the prime minister’s attendance at Diet committee sessions is difficult to fathom.
　理解しがたいのは民主党だ。

The DPJ has argued that a “set of stringent rules based on a consensus among the ruling and opposition parties must be laid down to ensure proposed cuts in the prime minister’s Diet attendance will not be used as an excuse for avoiding Diet deliberations.”
　民主党は、首相の出席抑制について「国会審議を避けるための方便とさせないために、与野党合意に基づく厳格なルール作りを行う」と主張する。

The DPJ also lashed out at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for being absent from deliberations on the government-submitted bill for boosting Japan’s industrial competitiveness because he was on a visit to Turkey.
　トルコ訪問で、安倍首相が産業競争力強化法案の審議に出席しなかったことも批判している。

However, while the DPJ was in power, it proposed bringing more flexibility to Diet business and more effective use of senior vice ministers out of consideration for trips overseas by the prime minister and other Cabinet members. Flip-flopping on this issue only because it has gone into opposition is nothing but opportunistic behavior.
　だが、民主党は与党時代に、首相や閣僚の海外出張に配慮した弾力的な国会運営や副大臣の活用を提案していた。野党になったから主張を変えるというのでは、「ご都合主義」ではないか。

The DPJ has proposed the Diet stay in session all year round so it can get more done. This idea would be commendable if it helps the Diet become a venue of truly in-depth deliberations, where the government and ruling parties and the opposition could compromise through productive discussions for amending, if necessary, bills and other items on the agenda.
　民主党は、審議の充実策として切れ目のない「通年国会」を提案している。政府・与党と野党が議論の末に妥協し、法案や議案の修正を図るという「熟議の国会」が実現するなら、結構だ。

If interpellations are hijacked for out-and-out antigovernment criticism based on irresponsible pandering to the public, there is little likelihood of productive Diet discussions. There also is concern that the DPJ-proposed full-year Diet session would jeopardize policy implementation because preparing answers to questions from the opposition would generate an excessive burden on the government.
　しかし、政府批判一辺倒のポピュリズム（大衆迎合）型の質問が横行するようでは、建設的な質疑は期待できまい。政府側の答弁準備などの負担も重すぎて、政策遂行に支障が出かねない。

Ishin no Kai has demanded that the number of personnel appointments requiring the approval of both the House of Representatives and House of Councillors, which currently stands at more than 250, be slashed. The party says the Diet’s function of checking the appointment of each government-nominated official can be strengthened by cutting the number of people subject to Diet approval. We think this proposal deserves consideration.
　維新の会は、衆参両院の同意を必要とする国会同意人事について、２５０人以上に上る対象案件を大幅に減らすべきだと主張している。対象を絞ることで、一人一人のチェックも厳密になるとの趣旨だ。検討に値しよう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 4, 2013)
（2013年11月4日01時49分  読売新聞）