後任推薦、国家公務員に疑問　学術会議元会長から聴取―自民

　自民党は２１日、日本学術会議の在り方を検討するプロジェクトチーム（ＰＴ）の会合を開き、大西隆氏ら同会議の会長経験者３人から意見を聴取した。大西氏らは、学術会議が独立した立場で政府に提言する意義を強調。一方、出席者からは、会員が後任を推薦する仕組みや特別職の国家公務員に任命されることへの疑問が続出した。
　会合には大西氏と黒川清氏が出席し、吉川弘之氏はオンラインで参加した。大西氏は菅義偉首相が会員候補６人の任命を拒否したことについて、「（会議が人選を）独立して行うことが非常に重要だ」と主張。その上で「学者が独立して提言を発する機関が国の信頼を得るために重要だ」と訴えた。（2020/10/21-19:35）

Doubts have been raised over the Science Council of Japan at a meeting of a Liberal Democratic Party project team discussing how the government-linked body of scholars should be amid a controversy over Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's refusal to appoint six nominees recommended by the council as new SCJ members.
   Two former presidents of the council--Takashi Onishi and Kiyoshi Kurokawa--attended the meeting, held Wednesday, in person, while Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, also a former SCJ president, joined the session online.
   On the appointment rejection by Suga, Onishi said, "It's very important for the council to select member candidates independently," stressing the significance of the SCJ making policy proposals to the government from an independent position.
   One of the participating lawmakers of the Japanese ruling party questioned the appropriateness of the SCJ's process of recommending member candidates, while another cast doubt over whether the council should be a state-affiliated body although support from the government for the council is necessary. A different LDP member sounded skeptical about the need for members of the council to be given a status of national civil servant.
   The former presidents rebutted the criticism of the selection process, saying, "Scientists themselves know who are the best scientists." Touching on the system in which retiring SCJ members can recommend their successors, the former presidents noted that academic organizations around the world have a similar recommendation system.