Strasbourg, 11/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Wounded by the earthquake and tsunami which devastated its north-east coast on 11 March, Japan is hoping for an announcement at its annual summit with the EU on 27-28 May that negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement will open very shortly. This is too soon for EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. He wants to study the feasibility of such a pact after the summit.
“Discussions are still on-going with Japan. In my opinion, it is not yet clear how far we can progress in the limited time left before the EU-Japan summit to fulfil the Council's conditions”, De Gucht said in European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday 9 May, replying to an oral question from a number of MEPs. “The conditions for a successful FTA should be explored on the basis that Japan can demonstrate its willingness to tackle, inter alia, non-tariff barriers and restrictions on public procurement”, he said, re-stating the requirements laid down by the European Council on 25 March. At this point, the Japanese authorities have proposed solutions to only three of the 27 barriers to trade highlighted by the EU, in the automotive, alcohol and food additive sectors. “Japan failed to present a credible roadmap to demonstrate how the outlined problems could be solved”, the commissioner stated adding, however, that he felt the progress made, no matter how limited, provided “a good basis for further discussion”.
In particular, “more work is needed to come to a shared level of ambition and agreeing the contents of a negotiation … This could be achieved through a so-called scoping exercise, which could be conducted after the summit. Once this has been done, we would examine the results and decide whether or not to launch the negotiations”, De Gucht said. He has already decided on a number of requirements in terms of the level of ambition of the agreement: - 100% duty- and quota-free treatment for all goods; - robust and credible roadmaps to eliminate a “critical mass” of non-tariff measures; - an open investment regime so as to achieve foreign direct investment (FDI) levels in Japan comparable to those of other OECD countries; - an open government procurement market, with a degree of openness that would match those of the EU, at all levels of government. De Gucht would prefer the option of a complete bilateral framework reflecting appropriately the strategic partnership between the EU and Japan, including both trade and investment and also political and cooperation matters. (E.H./transl.rt)