 3 parties do not want JCP or SDP in joint meeting on welfare The joint conference, which the ruling and opposition parties agreed to set up in both chambers of parliament to review national programs on pension and social services, will exclude the Japanese Communist and Social Democratic parties from its steering. On March 31, representatives of the five parties met in the Diet Building to discuss the details of a Diet resolution to establish the joint conference as well as an outline of the structure and running of the conference. In the meeting, a Liberal Democratic Party Dietmember proposed that an executive board in charge of the conference steering consists of only with the LDP, Komei, and Democratic parties and that the JCP and SDP attend the conference as non-voting observers. The JCP pointed out that the five parties' meeting of secretaries-general on March 25 agreed that a joint conference would secure the five parties smooth and active discussions and that issues would not be settled by a majority vote. Criticizing that the distinction between the executive board and observers for being against this agreement, the JCP stated that it will oppose a draft resolution to establish the joint conference and a draft outline of its steering without the JCP and SDP. A Komei Party Dietmember confessed that if the JCP joins the board, it can use its veto, which will put the other three parties in trouble. JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a news conference on the same day stated that forcing the JCP and SDP to be observers is against the agreement, and that the Komei remark proved that they want the JCP to be an observer with no voting rights because the JCP will use its veto to kill anything it disagrees with. (end) |