自民・船田氏、任命拒否は「解釈変更」　菅首相の判断を批判―学術会議

　自民党の船田元・元経済企画庁長官は、自身の３日付のメールマガジンで、菅義偉首相が日本学術会議の会員候補６人を任命しなかった問題について「明らかに（法）解釈の『変更』だ」と批判した。正面から首相に異論を唱えた形だ。
　船田氏は「１９８３年に会員の公選制から任命制に変更した際、私も衆院文教委員として審議に携わった」と振り返り、当時の閣僚らは答弁で「形式的な任命制」などと口をそろえていたと証言。「直近まで有権解釈として政府が受け継いできたはずだ」と指摘した。（2020/10/06-16:13）

Hajime Funada of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has criticized Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's rejection of the appointments of six scholars to the Science Council of Japan despite the council's recommendation.
   The former head of the now-defunct Economic Planning Agency said in an email newsletter dated Saturday that Suga appears to have changed the government's long-held interpretation of the science council law without advance notice, even to the LDP.
   When the government council's membership election system was replaced by the appointment system in 1983, cabinet ministers at the time said during parliamentary deliberations that appointments should be regarded as "a mere formality," Funada said. "This interpretation has been upheld by the government until very recently."
   As a member of the House of Representatives science committee, he was involved in discussions on the shift in the top academic organization's member selection method.
   While likening Suga's surprise rejection of the appointments to "a sneak raid," Funada noted that the move is believed to be a message saying that "this is what happens to opposition (to government policy)."