(Japanese) PM to double number of advisers

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Government and ruling coalition Democratic Party of Japan leaders on Monday decided to double the maximum number of advisers to the prime minister from five to 10, in an effort to strengthen the functions of the Prime Minister's Office.

At a special meeting between government and DPJ leaders held at the Prime Minister's Office, they also decided that five additional advisers would be appointed from the private sector.

They also decided to add three senior vice ministers and 12 parliamentary secretaries to boost the number of politicians in the government, as part of efforts to enhance politicians' initiative in the government's decision-making.

The number of politicians' posts in the government will be 94, at maximum, when the new measure takes effect as the leaders hope in April. To this end, they plan to submit bills to revise related laws, such as the Diet Law and the National Government Organization Law, to the ordinary Diet session to be convened Monday.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano from the government, and from the DPJ, Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, Azuma Koshiishi, chief of the party's House of Councillors caucus, and Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kenji Yamaoka.

The attendees agreed to hold similar meetings of party and government leaders once a week in principle.

After the meeting, Hirano told reporters that boosting the number of advisers to the prime minister was needed to strengthen the staff supporting the prime minister.

In its manifesto for the 2009 House of Representative election, the DPJ said it would boost the number of politicians in the government to about 100. However, the latest move will fail to satisfy the target.

At the meeting, Hatoyama asked the participants to work hard to quickly pass the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 and the fiscal 2010 budget. "As the economy is in such a [bad] situation, please do your best to pass them [the budget]," he said.

The participants agreed to make a special effort to have the budgets approved quickly by the Diet.

"I ask the government to make preparations to have the budgets executable quickly after the bills are passed," Ozawa said.

They confirmed that the government would submit to the ordinary Diet session a bill to grant foreign permanent residents the right to vote in local elections.
(Jan. 12, 2010)