英字新聞

敗戦後日本は米国の価値観を受け入れてここまでやってこれました。
アメリカには感謝しなければならないとは思っています。
戦後６０年以上経過した今、憲法の見直しを行っても米国は文句は言わない、日本は十分やっていけると思います。
憲法審査会(deliberative council)を早急にたてなおし人選をしなければならないですね。
人材が選任されていなければ憲法審査会は意味が無い。
今後の動きに注目！

srachai from khonkaen, thailand


The Yomiuri Shimbun (May. 19, 2010)
Lawmakers must face constitutional change
国民投票法施行　憲法改正に正面から向き合え（5月18日付・読売社説）

The National Referendum Law, which stipulates procedures for amendment of the Constitution, came into effect Tuesday.
　憲法改正の手続きを定めた国民投票法が、きょう１８日施行される。

As a result, lawmakers can now submit draft constitutional amendments to the Diet, a practice that had been frozen for three years since the national voting bill was enacted. This is an epoch-making event in the postwar history of our nation's constitutional politics.
　これにより、同法成立後３年間凍結されてきた憲法改正原案の国会提出が可能になる。戦後の憲政史上、画期的なことだ。

If a draft constitutional amendment is approved by both the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives, it will be proposed to the public and then put to a national vote.
　原案が衆参両院で可決されると、国民に改正案が発議され、国民投票で賛否が問われる。

Political parties must squarely face the issue of constitutional revision now, when procedures have been established for revising the nation's top law by the hands of the people.
　国民の手による最高法規の改正手順が整備された今こそ、各政党は、憲法改正に正面から向き合わねばならない。

According to the procedures, the Deliberative Councils on the Constitution in the upper and lower houses are supposed to study draft amendments. However, neither house has even appointed people to the councils at present, so they have not been able to identify important points concerning constitutional revision for the nearly three years since they were established in 2007.
　憲法改正原案は、衆参両院に設けられた憲法審査会が審査する仕組みだ。だが、両院ともに現在、憲法審査会は委員すら選任されていない。このため過去３年近く、憲法改正の論点整理などに取り組むこともなかった。

The councils have been inactive because the Democratic Party of Japan, the leading party in the ruling coalition, is not willing to start them.
　審査会が、こうして開店休業状態にあるのは、民主党がその始動に極めて消極的なためだ。

Some members of the major opposition Liberal Democratic Party are trying to submit a draft constitutional amendment to the current Diet session. Even if it is submitted, however, the LDP draft is highly likely to just be shelved and collect dust under the current political situation.
　自民党内には、憲法改正原案を今国会に提出する動きがあるが、仮に提出しても、これではたなざらしにされるだけだろう。

===

Tunes have changed

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is a confirmed advocate of constitutional revision. He once claimed Article 9 of the Constitution should stipulate that "land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will be maintained."
　鳩山首相は、かつて憲法９条に「陸海空軍その他の戦力は保持する」と明記するよう唱えるなど、れっきとした改憲論者だ。

DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa released his own draft constitutional amendment in the past and criticized supporters of the current Constitution as having stopped thinking. Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who also is finance minister, said when he was DPJ president that an extensive campaign to formulate a new constitution was necessary.
　小沢民主党幹事長は以前、「改正試案」を公表し、「『護憲』の実態は思考停止」と批判したりもしていた。菅副総理・財務相も党代表の時、「幅広い憲法制定運動が必要」と訴えていた。

There is too much of a gap between these remarks and the current attitude of the DPJ, which has turned its back on discussions of constitutional changes in the deliberative councils.
　これらの発言と、憲法審査会での改憲論議に背を向ける、いまの民主党の姿勢は、あまりに落差が大きすぎる。

The National Referendum Law was created from two bills, one submitted by the then ruling LDP and the other by the then opposition DPJ. There were no particular points of contention between the two parties on the issue; neither was the law railroaded through. The DPJ supported the upper house resolution that accompanied enactment of the law.
　国民投票法は、当時の与党・自民党案と、野党・民主党案をあわせて作成されたものだ。先鋭な対立点はなく、強引な採決が行われたわけでもない。参院の付帯決議には民主党も賛成していた。

===

Get councils ready

As the major ruling party, the DPJ is now responsible for resolving the "illegal condition" that the deliberative councils are currently in.
　民主党は、与党第１党として、審査会をめぐる「違法状態」を解消する責任がある。

The National Referendum Law allows people aged 18 or older to vote, and an additional clause calls on the deliberative councils to discuss lowering the voting age in the Public Offices Election Law from 20 or older and lowering the age people become adults to 18 from 20 as currently stipulated in the Civil Code before enforcement. However, this "homework" has not been touched yet.
　国民投票法は、「１８歳以上」に投票権を認めた。
　これに伴い、法施行までに、公職選挙法の選挙権年齢「２０歳以上」や民法の成年年齢「２０歳」を、１８歳に引き下げることを検討するよう付則で定めた。だが、これらの「宿題」も手つかずの状態だ。

First, the upper house should quickly establish regulations for running its deliberative council and choose its members. The lower house, which already has such regulations, must select people for its own council as soon as possible.
　参院はまず、憲法審査会を運営していくための規程を速やかに制定し、委員を選ぶべきだ。すでに規程のある衆院は、委員の選任を急がねばならない。

It is important for both houses to prepare the councils so they can start discussions on draft constitutional amendments whenever they are submitted to the Diet.
　衆参両院ともに、いつ改正原案が提出されても審査に臨めるよう態勢を整えることが大事だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 18, 2010)
（2010年5月18日01時05分 読売新聞）