Several news items reported upon in this newsletter in the past few days deserve to be commented upon.
No free trade agreement with Japan any time soon. At the EU-Japan summit in Tokyo on Wednesday, Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso bowed to the Japanese prime minister's desires and did not refuse to discuss the matter, but made extremely cautious noises. All that was decided at the summit was to set up a high-level group to report back and make suggestions in six months' time...