主要野党、予算審議応ぜず　安倍首相の「桜」答弁に反発

　立憲民主党など主要野党は１８日、国会内で国対委員長会談を開き、首相主催「桜を見る会」の前日に開かれた前夜祭の会計をめぐる安倍晋三首相の答弁に「うそ」があったとして、同日の衆院予算委員会一般質疑には応じられないとの認識で一致した。同委理事会で与党側に伝えたが、棚橋泰文委員長（自民）は委員会開会を職権で決定。日本維新の会を除く野党欠席のまま審議を行った。
　主要野党が問題にしているのは１７日の首相答弁。立憲の辻元清美氏が、前夜祭の明細書や領収書をめぐり、会場のＡＮＡインターコンチネンタルホテル東京から個別に得た説明が、過去の首相答弁と異なると追及したのに対し、首相は「（ホテル側から）辻元議員にはあくまで一般論で答えた。個別案件は営業秘密に関わるため、回答には含まれていない（との説明を受けた）」と答えた。（2020/02/18-11:47）

Opposition lawmakers have claimed that there are contradictions in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's answers to parliamentary questions about a dinner event related to the controversial publicly funded cherry blossom-viewing party.
   Many opposition parties decided to boycott a meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Tuesday, alleging that Abe had lied in his account of the dinner event in question.
   The prime minister "has repeated untruthful answers many times in parliament," Kiyomi Tsujimoto, acting secretary-general of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, argued at a meeting of the Lower House committee the previous day.
   The dinner event was organized in 2013, 2014 and 2016 by Abe's support group for his supporters at a high-end Tokyo hotel on the eve of the annual cherry blossom party hosted by the prime minister, which was attended in recent years by many supporters of Abe, among celebrity and other guests.
   Abe has said that fees for the dinner event were paid by participants directly to the hotel, ANA InterContinental Tokyo, and that his personal office only mediated them.