By Martin Banks - 29th March 2011
The EU must look at ways to help Japan
Kader Arif
MEPs have generally welcomed moves by the EU to set up a possible free trade agreement (FTA) with disaster-hit Japan.
At their summit last Friday, EU leaders offered Japan a special pact granting preferential trade terms as it battles to recover from a natural disaster and nuclear emergency that has left more than 10,000 people dead.
The EU "should offer the potential launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement" at a summit between the EU and Japan in May, it said in a last-minute addition to summit conclusions.
The concession was offered "on the basis that Japan is willing to tackle the issue of non-tariff barriers and restrictions on public procurement."
Japan and India signed a free trade pact earlier this month and Tokyo is seeking more such partnerships as it looks to catch up with export rival South Korea and after China overtook it as the world's second-largest economy in 2010.
The EU, meanwhile, is looking for ways to accelerate economic growth, with a debt crisis still hanging over member states.
The summit announcement was welcomed by UK Tory deputy Syed Kamall, who said, "David Cameron was right to propose a new free trade agreement with Japan which would do far more to establish a long term recovery than aid alone.
"Open trade should not just be restricted to countries that have suffered major catastrophes such as Pakistan and Japan.
"We need for these proposals for a Japan FTA to be part of a much wider and more ambitious strategy for dozens of new agreements that will help build momentum towards an international trade deal."
Kader Arif, the French MEP and S&D spokesperson on international trade, said, "Japan is one of the main EU partners and our relations should be strengthened in this time of crisis.
"The EU must look at ways to help Japan, but emotions should not dictate commercial policies.
"There are important pending issues such as opening the Japanese public procurement to EU companies.
"There are many other sensitive issues, just like we found in the EU-South Korea FTA, so we need time to assess the impact of such an agreement on all sectors. We encourage a frank and open dialogue on the basis of this assessment."
But a note of caution was sounded by Daniel Caspary, the EPP's coordinator on the international trade committee, who said, "Before we enter into negotiations with Japan over a free trade agreement, the talks on reducing non-tariff trade barriers, which have been going on for years, should finally deliver noticeable results for European businesses".
Elsewhere, Ukip deputy William Dartmouth said Britain should go it alone and set up a free trade deal with Japan as a "matter of course."
He added, "However, it cannot do so without the agreement of the EU".
"It would be in our interests and those of Japan if the UK could set up a free trade deal", he went on.
"Liberalising trade between our two countries could only benefit everyone, both as producers and as consumers. It is a sad fact of life that this country is unable to act on its own interests, economic or humanitarian without first getting the consent of the EU".
"In the meantime, Switzerland a non EU country, already has a free trade agreement with Japan."
Writing in a recent EU-Japan section of the Parliament Magazine, Unite secretary general Len McCluskey said, "Trade cooperation between the EU and Japan could be improved by a review of the current level of tariff barriers."
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