EDITORIAL: Policy unit downgraded

The National Policy Unit, a government entity that was intended to serve as a "control tower led by politicians" to coordinate and decide on key policy matters, will be redefined as an advisory body for the prime minister. The government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, had planned to upgrade the unit to bureau status, but it gave up the idea.

When the DPJ took power in the Lower House election last year, the public most looked forward to the advent of a political style based on firm leadership by the prime minister and his Cabinet, a clear departure from the usual bureaucrat-led, murky, pork-barrel policymaking. Yet, the public is being reminded that such a change is still only half-baked.

Even if the National Policy Unit is downgraded to just an "advisory unit" that specializes in providing the prime minister with recommendations and information, it can still fulfill a role different from bureaucratic organizations.

The challenge facing the government is how it should develop its still shaky policymaking regime led by politicians into something more effective.

When Junichiro Koizumi was prime minister, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy was under the spotlight as a policymaking center. The council, made up of the prime minister, key Cabinet members and private-sector representatives tried to establish economic-fiscal governance that transcended the vested interest of legislators and government branches.

The National Policy Unit is the DPJ version of the council, so to speak. In last year's Lower House election manifesto, the DPJ included a plan for a new body "to shape a national vision for the new era, and formulate the budget framework." On taking power, the DPJ created the unit without legislative action.

Behind the DPJ's decision not to upgrade the unit to a bureau with law-stipulated powers is the fact that the July 11 Upper House election again created a so-called "twisted Diet" with the Lower House and Upper House controlled by different parties. Thus it has become impossible for the DPJ to pass bills to establish politicians' leadership in administrative functions, which would give legal backing to the unit.

In the Hatoyama administration, current Prime Minister Naoto Kan and current Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku respectively headed the unit, and managed to show a certain amount of presence, but now the unit is forced to change direction without having produced satisfactory results.

So far, the DPJ's attempts to achieve a policymaking style led by politicians have been haphazard.

In last year's budget process, the Cabinet took forever over what to choose and what to discard from among the laundry list of promises in its Lower House election manifesto. In the end, then-Party Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa had the last word on deciding what went into the budget.

There were countless instances in which the DPJ government showed that things were not so much led by the Cabinet but "by the ruling coalition."

Also, even within the Cabinet, the top three politicians of each ministry often said or did things that ran counter to the wishes of the prime minister or the prime minister's office. This was criticized as being not so much policymaking based on political leadership but led by individual politicians, which sounds similar but is something different all together. This happened because the chief Cabinet secretary, the finance minister and other key ministers failed to form a close-knit team with the prime minister at the center.

There is no small concern that the Kan administration may repeat the same mistake.

The prime minister proposes "a strong economy, strong finances, a strong social security," but which government institution is going to draw up the grand design for that proposal? Who is to coordinate that proposal, and who is to persuade the public?

Moreover, in times of a twisted Diet, no policy can be realized without coordination with the opposition. The party must play a larger role. It is imperative for the government to swiftly establish a decision-making framework, which would include role-sharing among the DPJ and the Cabinet.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 17