The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan appears to be struggling to make a distinctive mark on budget negotiations through ongoing talks as policy wrangling on education and tax reform between the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition and opposition parties heats up more than ever before.
Wednesday's session of the Lower House Budget Committee, chaired by CDP lawmaker Jun Azumi, was abruptly postponed over a dispute about how to question Junichiro Matsumoto, 77, a former accountant of the LDP’s now-defunct faction led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, about issues with the past handling of funds from faction-run fundraising parties.
As veering off schedule, even for a day, is detrimental to securing passage of the fiscal 2025 budget in the Lower House by March 2 — an utmost priority for the government — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, along with some of his Cabinet members and lawmakers, were seen on live television visibly bored as they waited for the session to start, and exiting as it became clear the business that had been expected Wednesday would be called off.
Ishiba was supposed to stand for questioning for seven hours until the afternoon. The decision to call off that session was made official in the afternoon.
Matsumoto, who has been sentenced to three years in jail and suspended for five years for his role in the LDP's slush fund scandal, has forbade any disclosure of when and where he will be questioned to the media, and has asked the committee to avoid certain questions, Azumi told reporters on Wednesday morning.
“This kind of attitude is unacceptable,” Azumi lamented to reporters after a meeting among senior members of the committee.
CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda had previously reiterated that his party would not condition the budget’s passage on concessions related to Matsumoto’s questioning — likening the strategy to a “hostage exchange” that would tank voters’ trust and expose the party’s political weakness.
However, CDP policy chief Kazuhiko Shigetoku told reporters on Thursday that the LDP’s handling of Matsumoto’s questioning is linked to ongoing talks about budget amendments, as the attention given to the CDP’s policy negotiations pales in comparison to the grip haggling by the DPP and Nippon Ishin has had on the ruling camp’s focus.
“I’m sure the ruling coalition wants to sort out (Matsumoto’s) questioning and pass the budget within this fiscal year,” said Shigetoku. “I don’t know what their true intentions are, but I hope they give careful thought to the consequences.”
The CDP hopes to meet this week with the ruling camp to hear feedback on its budget counterproposal.
“Budget talks are resuming in front of the cameras — or actually, they are behind schedule,” Shigetoku said. “We think our counterproposal is one that the LDP can swallow whole. It’s the kind that should leave them speechless. So, I wonder when they’ll come around. The ball is in their court. We’ll see.”
Matsumoto’s questioning — which was originally scheduled to take place Thursday at a hotel in Tokyo — was postponed with a rescheduled date yet to be set.
The budget committee has agreed to question Matsumoto before voting on the budget in the Lower House.
Meanwhile the LDP is hastening budget talks with Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People.
Nippon Ishin no Kai is keeping the coalition on a tight rein, making its support for the government’s budget proposal conditional on clear wording in relation to its requests, in a formal agreement. Nippon Ishin is insisting on more straightforward language on education policy and revision of the social insurance system.
“The point is to get them (the ruling coalition) to spell out their commitment clearly,” Nippon Ishin co-leader Seiji Maehara told a news conference Thursday.
On Thursday morning, the first meeting of the day between the three parties’ policy chiefs bore no fruit.
The parties then reconvened in the evening to fine-tune the language of the agreement, but yet again failed to find some common ground. They are now expected to reconvene Friday morning.
“We still have to bridge the remaining gaps,” Nippon Ishin policy chief Hitoshi Aoyagi told reporters, adding:
“In our opinion, half of the agreement has to be amended,”
“At the end of the day they are the ones in a hurry, not us,” said a Nippon Ishin Upper House lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity and insisted on a clear commitment on the insurance premium.
The parties will set up a consultative body to further discuss the policies even after formal approval of the budget.
As for negotiations with the DPP, the party is still dissatisfied with the LDP’s proposal to raise the income tax threshold from the current ¥1.03 million to ¥1.6 million for households with an annual income of ¥2 million.
Unsatisfied with that proposal, the DPP requested scrapping income thresholds altogether and the current temporary tax rate on gasoline, which was to be further discussed in a meeting Thursday. That meeting was then postponed.
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