Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reforms for creating a "simple, efficient government" have entered the final phase. In late May, the Diet enacted the administrative reform promotion law and four related bills aimed at continuing Koizumi's reform programs after he steps down in September (when his tenure as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party ends).
At the same time, the council for integrated fiscal and economic reforms, made up of top government and ruling-coalition officials, was inaugurated to take over the nation's policymaking power from the Cabinet's advisory council on economic and fiscal affairs.
While the latter was a decision-making body based on Koizumi's top-down political style, the new body is more apt to reflect the views of the ruling coalition.