Japan confers former European Commission President Juncker with one of its highest honours

11.11.2020
Brussels

EU News 312/2020

The Government of Japan, in its Autumn List of Conferment of Decorations for 2020, awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun to former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for his contributions toward strengthening bilateral relations and promoting friendship and goodwill between the European Union and Japan. It is the highest honour the government can bestow upon a foreign national.

During his tenure as head of the European Commission, he worked tirelessly to advance bilateral ties between the two like-minded partners, which bore fruit in the form of the Strategic Partnership Agreement, the Economic Partnership Agreement and the EU-Japan Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure.

The cooperation between Japan and the European Union has reached over the last five years a level of quality it had reached never before, thanks to the friendship between former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and myself,’ he said in response to the announcement.