At a virtual summit on Tuesday 26 May, the European Union and Japan, which together account for a third of the world economy, agreed to support a strategy based on common priorities such as universal and affordable access to vaccines against Covid-19, the fight against disinformation and the fight against environmental ‘dumping’, among others at the G7.
In an exchange of views lasting about an hour, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, pledged to infuse their priorities and values into a strategy for recovery that is “solid, ambitious and rapid”, in the words of Charles Michel, speaking at a press conference (see EUROPE 12492/18).
A vision that they will bring to the next G7 meeting, which will take place from 10 to 12 June.
Responding to the pandemic
The vaccines that will make it possible to contain the coronavirus pandemic must be considered as “common goods”, Mr Michel stressed, taking the opportunity to pay tribute to the financial effort made by his Japanese partner in the search for cures and treatments (see EUROPE 12479/1).
Politicians have also committed themselves to combating disinformation campaigns in the context of this pandemic, a subject on which the President of the European Council has strongly insisted.
Mr Michel also stressed the geopolitical risks fuelled by the pandemic. According to their statement, coordination must be intensified to help solve regional problems on the basis of international law, whether in eastern Ukraine, Afghanistan, North Korea, the East and South China Seas, Libya, Syria and Sahel.
Laying the foundations for recovery
Both strong supporters of multilateralism, the EU and Japan will call on their G7 partners to maintain unfettered trade, but based on principles of reciprocity, organised on level playing field and cognisant of climate change. “Decarbonisation/green transition, digital transformation, and the virtuous cycle of environment and growth, will be a part of the recovery strategy”, the statement reads.
“We are committed to avoid a new form of environmental dumping”, Mr Michel said. The parties believe that international trade must also take greater account of “the negative effects of climate change”, he said, adding that the parties would work to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO) to that end.
The President of the European Council also undertook to examine, in these multilateral fora, including the next G7, the problem of the debts of developing countries, particularly African countries.
These issues will also be put on the bilateral agenda of the parties and will be reviewed at a summit in Tokyo in autumn 2020, if conditions permit.
See the joint statement: https://bit.ly/36teDnt (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel with Camille-Cerise Gessant)