DPJ to zero in on wasteful gov't projects, abolish key policy panel+

TOKYO, July 23 Kyodo -
A government led by the Democratic Party of Japan would consolidate
policymaking powers around the prime minister by setting up a national strategy
bureau under him to oversee budget compilations and foreign policies, while
creating a new body to scrap wasteful government projects, party sources said
Thursday.

The strategy bureau, which would consist of government officials and
private-sector experts to be handpicked by the prime minister, would replace
the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, currently the government's key body
making medium- to long-term fiscal policies, the sources said.
The concepts will be included in the main opposition party's policy platform to
be unveiled ahead of an Aug. 30 general election. Opinion polls suggest that
the DPJ is well positioned to win the election and take power.
The DPJ-led government would also create what would be called the council on
administrative renovation to review central government projects, many of which
are often criticized as containing too much fat.
The body would be given the authority to require ministries and agencies to
provide information on wasteful projects, including those undertaken by
quasi-government corporations, the sources said.
If the council determined that money would be better spent by abolishing a
project or transferring it to local governments or the private sector, it would
freeze them even in the middle of a business year.
The strategy bureau would serve as the prime minister's brains to carry out the
DPJ's pet projects, such as allowances to families with children and abolishing
tolls for the nation's expressways.
The bureau would also formulate the nation's basic foreign policy, the sources
said.
The DPJ also plans to send a total of more than 100 ruling party lawmakers into
ministries and agencies so that they can take initiatives in setting policies
there.
In a related move, the DPJ released a set of policies on Thursday in which it
dropped all references to the Self-Defense Forces' refueling mission for
antiterrorism coalition forces in and around Afghanistan.
The deletion has left it vague whether the party would oppose the mission's
extension beyond next January.
The policy collection, which the DPJ released, suggests the party's readiness
to be flexible in foreign policy issues, including the possible continuation of
the current approach pursued by the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, as
the party eyes ousting his Liberal Democratic Party from power.
The document, which has summarized the policy debate within the DPJ up until
last week, will form the basis of its party platform for the House of
Representatives election.
The DPJ had opposed extending the refueling mission, conducted by the Maritime
Self-Defense Force in the Indian Ocean since 2001, past January this year in
last year's policy collection.
But DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama has said a DPJ-led government would continue
the refueling mission for the time being if it takes power, saying withdrawing
it in a rush would be reckless. ''Continuity is required in diplomacy,'' he
said last Friday.
==Kyodo