Retract 'revised' pension law and restart discussions: JCP Ichida

More than 40 errors have been found in the recently enacted "revised" pension law and the government on July 16 announced punishment to be applied to officials concerned, including the Cabinet Legislative Bureau and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

The errors mostly arise from discrepancies between new provisions inserted due to the "revisions" and existing provisions.

In a published statement on the punishment announcement, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said, "The responsibility for forcibly enacting the adverse revision of the pension law without scrutinizing the text should not be restricted to HL&W Ministry officials and the Cabinet Legislative Bureau."

In the light of these developments and the people's judgment in the House of Councilors election, JCP Ichida made clear the JCP position on the pension law, saying, "The JCP demands that the government retract the pension law and carry out a people-first pension reform based on national discussions and consensus." (end)