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 delegates were from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, and the UK, representatives from the European Union to Japan and Mr. Bernd LANGE the Chairman of the INTA committee as the leader of the delegation.

(L) Message from HONDA, President of JCCU/(R) Message from INTA Chairman Mr. Bernd LANGE

After the welcome greetings by HONDA Eiichi, Mr. LANGE took turns and started to talk about the 200th birth anniversary of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the cooperative idea in Germany, which fell in March 2018. He also expressed his strong interest in the cooperation between Japan and the EU.

During the opinion exchanges session, 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 benefits to consumers and concerns that EPA brings and co-ops’efforts were discussed to deepen understanding.

Mr. Maria ARENA of Belgium expressing opinion

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 and to positively cope with changes.