Shinzo Abe’s Administration and the ruling bloc found on April 19 that the ratification on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pack and relevant bills will hardly be approved at the Lower House by the end of April, although they had expected the Lower House would pass the TPP accord and related bills as scheduled.
The Diet affairs chiefs of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposite Democratic Party (DP) had a meeting to confirm the TPP Special Committee of the Lower House will not be able to get through the schedule of TPP debate sessions planned over the end of April.
It is now highly probable that Lower House lawmakers will put off the TPP ratification and approvals of relevant bills until after the current legislative session.
LDP’s Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki and Diet affairs chiefs of Lower and Upper Houses met together on April 19 and shared the view that the TPP approval during the current session will be difficult because of the Diet’s tight schedule.
If the TPP pact ratification and related bills approval are deferred, they will be advanced for further deliberations. Those debates are likely to be resumed at an extraordinary session of the Diet in and after this summer.