EU Parliament Delegation paid a courtesy visit to JCCU

On September 20, 2018, a 7-member delegation of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA) paid a courtesy visit to JCCU to hold talks with HONDA Eiichi - President, together with ITO Jiro - Operating Officer/Director, Public Relations Division and FUTAMURA Chikako - Director, Member Relations Division on the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

The EU Parliament delegates were from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, and the UK, who were accompanied by representatives from the European Union to Japan. The leader of the delegation was Mr. Bernd LANGE - Chairman of the INTA Committee.

After the welcome greetings by HONDA Eiichi, Mr. LANGE took the floor by paying honour to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the co-operative idea in Germany, which was celebrated in March 2018. He expressed his strong interest in exploring the potential for co-operation between Japan and the EU.

During the discussions, very significant issues were touched upon, such as the importance of consumer protection and the role of civil society groups such as co-ops; concern over protection of personal information due to liberalization of trade under the EPA; the impact on Japanese food culture; the EPA's benefits to consumers and co-operatives.

In conclusion, Mr. LANGE commented, "Globalization has positive and negative aspects, but we could agree with each other that it is important to protect the value we believe in and to positively cope with changes."