Kokuta and Kasai meet with German parliament vice president

   On August 30, Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives members Kokuta Keiji (JCP Diet Policy Commission chair) and Kasai Akira (International Bureau vice director) met with German Parliament Vice-President Petra Pau (deputy chairperson of the Left Party parliamentary group) who was in Japan accompanying Chancellor Angela Merkel.

   Kokuta, in anwer to Pau’s question, explained about the causes of the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties’ historic defeat in the House of Councilors election, pointing out that it was the voters’ severe verdict against the neoliberal policies that have brought about the increase in poverty and social disparities and against the policies aiming at “breaking away from the postwar regime” and revising the Constitution. He also talked about the struggle to block the bill to extend the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law.

   Pointing out that 70 percent of Germans are opposed to the dispatch of German forces to Afghanistan and that 55 percent call for a minimum wage system to be established, Pau stressed that the political conditions in Germany are similar to that of Japan. She said that the Left Party, a minority in the parliament, is now tackling strategic tasks of how to meet the majority of the public’s demands.

- Akahata, August 31, 2007