European Council President Michel to visit Hiroshima

Jiji Press

14:27 JST, May 7, 2022

BRUSSELS (Jiji Press) — European Council President Charles Michel will deliver a speech in Hiroshima, one of the two Japanese cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombings in the closing days of World War II, during a visit to Japan next week, a senior European Union official said Friday.

Michel will make the speech at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on May 13, the EU official said.

He is expected to express his determination to prevent a nuclear war and pursue disarmament amid concerns that Russia will use nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine.

His predecessor, Donald Tusk, visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the other atomic-bombed city, in 2019 while in office.

Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Thursday.