Koizumi orders mail bills to be submitted

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday he has instructed posts minister Toranosuke Katayama to submit four bills related to postal deregulation to the Diet before the Golden Week holidays from late April.

In making the instruction, Koizumi is apparently pressuring the Liberal Democratic Party's policy-making panel on postal services, which is strongly opposed to submitting the bills simultaneously.

Koizumi told reporters that Katayama, minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, told him that he would try his hardest and described how he had been negotiating with the LDP panel so far.

The government hopes to see the four bills approved by the cabinet April 26.

The bills include one to allow private firms to begin offering mail services and another one for the establishment of a new public corporation to take over the three postal services — mail, postal savings and "Kampo" insurance — from the government in 2003.

The posts ministry is scheduled to explain the bills to the LDP panel Friday. But there are concerns that with the opposition from the LDP members, the ministry will be unable to fully explain all four bills.

Koizumi is a strong advocate of privatizing the postal service, and eyes privatizing the three postal services.

But the premier has met stiff opposition from some LDP members with vested interests in postal services.

from Kyodo News 19.4.02
Tension between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and top officials within his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) intensified Friday over a plan to submit four postal deregulation bills to the Diet.

At his official residence, Koizumi told reporters he can ignore opposition to the bills by some of his LDP colleagues, including Secretary General Taku Yamasaki and policy chief Taro Aso, because it is essential that his government submit the bills to the Diet by April 26.

"I'll submit them to the Diet (anyway, as scheduled) if such opponents do not change their minds," Koizumi said, adding he was bemused by a report that the LDP Policy Research Council's division rejected the bills in a meeting earlier in the day.

"I don't think the opponents are in a majority in the party," Koizumi said.

The bills include one to allow private firms to begin offering mail services, and another for the establishment of a new public corporation to take over the three postal services — mail, postal savings and "Kampo" life insurance — from the government in 2003.

Koizumi is a strong advocate of a plan to privatize and deregulate the postal services to make it easier for private companies to enter the marketplace. He wants his cabinet to approve the bills by April 26.

But Aso, head of the LDP Policy Research Council, reportedly warned in a meeting that the LDP may split apart if Koizumi, who also heads the party, sticks to his plan to have the cabinet approve the bills by the deadline.

Aso also cited strong opposition to the bills by the council's division in charge of postal services, according to participants of the meeting of the LDP Executive Council.

Yamasaki agreed with Aso, saying it could cause problems if the cabinet reaches a different decision on matters than the Policy Research Council division, they said.

At the meeting, Yamasaki reportedly said he and other key LDP policy-makers could discuss the matter again with Koizumi.

The LDP traditionally makes initial policy decisions at a Policy Research Council division, which are then put to the Executive Council before the cabinet endorses them.

On Thursday, Koizumi instructed posts minister Toranosuke Katayama to submit the four bills to the Diet before the "Golden Week" holidays, which begin in late April.

Members of the LDP Policy Research Council's division on postal services said the bills should not be submitted now because there are still some unresolved issues and also because they need to see details of related ministerial decrees before finalizing the bills.

Many panel members expressed concerns at the meeting that the quality of postal services will deteriorate if private-sector firms are allowed in.

The issue of privatizing the postal services is a highly political one because there are many lawmakers in both the ruling and opposition parties who have vested interests in the postal services.