The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) may not approve the government's draft budget for fiscal 2025, its leader, Yoshihiko Noda, indicated Monday.

"Saying we 'won't prevent the budget's enactment within this fiscal year' is the best cooperation" that the CDP can extend to the ruling bloc, Noda told a meeting hosted by the Research Institute of Japan, a Jiji Press affiliate. "The No. 1 opposition party's approval of the budget would be an act of concession."

The CDP has proposed fresh spending of some ¥3.79 trillion ($24.98 billion) that includes the abolition of the provisional gasoline tax rate and the provision of free school lunches, along with financial resources for them including those secured through a review of reserves and other state funds.

Noda said that the CDP aims to revise the budget by a scale of ¥1 trillion, saying the party's approval of the budget depends on how far the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition accepts its proposed amendments.

On the issue of whether to ban political donations from companies or other organizations, Noda criticized an LDP bill to revise the political fund control law aimed at maintaining such donations while enhancing transparency of such finances.

The bill stipulates that the names and other information of companies and other organizations be disclosed if they donate more than ¥10 million a year.

But it does not include parties' regional chapters in the list of recipients subject to the disclosure. As such, Noda said that LDP regional chapters can be used as a loophole, which he urged the ruling party to plug.

Noda reiterated opposition parties' plan to jointly submit a bill to introduce a system for married couples to keep their respective surnames.

He said that such a bill could be passed in the Lower House with the cooperation of the LDP's coalition partner, Komeito, which backs such a system.

"The current Judicial Affairs Committee chairperson of the House of Councilors is from Komeito," he noted. "Ahead of the Upper House election in summer, it would be difficult for the upper chamber to reject a bill passed by the lower chamber. There is a certain chance to enact the bill."

Noda also talked about a system for agency-by-agency examinations of the draft budget introduced at the Lower House budget committee this year.

"We want to check for irresponsible financing" through more detailed examinations going into divisions of government agencies, he said, indicating his expectations for a continuation of the budget examination system between ruling and opposition parties.