The political and legal basis for EU-Japan relations

The EU and Japan are both advanced industrialised democracies, with many common interests and a burgeoning economic and political partnership. In recent years, EU-Japan relations have broadened far beyond the trade-related focus which governed the relationship in the 1970s and 1980s.

Today’s bilateral relationship is anchored in two key documents: the Joint Declaration of 1991 and the Action Plan for EU-Japan Cooperation of 2001.

• The Joint Declaration [45 KB] on relations between the European Community and its Member States and Japan established common principles and shared objectives in the political, economic, cooperation and cultural areas and established a consultation framework for annual meetings between Japan and the EU.
• The Action Plan of 2001 [167 KB] (“Shaping our Common Future”) is the key instrument establishing a strong and results-oriented partnership over a ten-year period (until 2011). It has four basic objectives: promoting peace and security; strengthening the economic and trade partnership; coping with global and societal challenges; and bringing people and cultures together.

In addition, the EU has concluded a number of agreements with Japan in specific fields (for full details, follow link to database of international agreements in Section 3 below).

The EU and Japan also cooperate in international organisations (UN, WTO, OECD, international financial institutions, etc) and in the G8.

The institutional mechanisms of the EU-Japan relationship

The annual EU-Japan summit takes place at the level of the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the Japanese Prime Minister. It is the key forum overseeing the relationship and giving it political impetus.

Furthermore:

• Twice-yearly Ministerial meetings are held between the EU Troika (at Foreign Ministers’ level) and the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs;
• High-Level Consultations are held at senior-official level between the European Commission (Director-General level) and the Japanese government led by the Deputy Foreign Minister;
• An Action Plan Steering Group monitors the implementation of the joint Action Plan at regular intervals;
• A number of specific dialogues provide the forum for discussions on regulatory reform, environment, trade policy, economic/financial policy, industrial policy and industrial cooperation, energy, telecommunications, science and technology, maritime transport, etc.
• The EU troika also holds expert-level political dialogue with the relevant Japanese government officials on a range of geographical and thematic issues (e.g. Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, UN matters, non-proliferation, human rights).
• The Troika format is also being used for the senior official level political discussions, including under the EU-Japan Strategic Dialogues on Asia and on Central Asia which were inaugurated in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
• The European Parliament and the Japanese Diet each have standing structures dealing with EU-Japan relations. Official inter-parliamentary meetings take place on an annual basis.

The main areas for cooperation

a) Political Relations

The EU and Japan share important core values – in particular, attachment to democracy, fundamental freedoms and human rights, market economy. Both the EU and Japan are global actors, particularly in the economic arena, but increasingly also in political terms. As such, we are seeking to cooperate closely on a range of issues of common interest and have a close and intensive political dialogue covering the full gamut of foreign and security policy issues. This ranges from the situation in the Middle East, Africa or Central Asia to questions such as terrorism, non-proliferation, UN reform, human rights or security aspects of energy supply and climate change.

Each side cooperates actively in the other’s geographical region. For example, Japan is a generous and welcome donor to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Bosnia and Kosovo. The EU, for its part, has an important political and economic stake in Asia’s peaceful development, and has, for example, actively supported international efforts to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

b) Economic Relations

Japan is one of the EU’s main economic partners. Both economies together account for 40% of global GDP, nearly 30% of world trade and provide half of the world’s outflow of foreign direct investment. Japan is a major destination for European foreign direct investment (FDI) as is Europe for Japanese investors, in particular in the new EU Member States following EU enlargement in 2004 and 2007. Japan is the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner overall, with total two-way trade of €116.9 billion in 2005.

The EU and Japan continue to work bilaterally on market-access restrictions. However, the main focus has shifted to regulatory matters and investment-related issues. The Regulatory Reform Dialogue (RRD) has taken place on an annual basis since 1994. It is a two-way process in which both Japan and the EU present specific proposals for deregulation. From the EU side, these include issues such as public procurement, foreign direct investment, health sector, telecommunications, air and sea transport, and financial services. Japan raises issues such as environmental legislation, accounting standards, work and residence permits as well as driving licenses.

Europe attracted the lion’s share of Japan Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in recent years (€ 78 billion in investment stocks. A Cooperation Framework for Two-Way Investment Promotion [90 KB] was agreed at the EU-Japan summit in 2004.

Multilaterally, Japan and the EU are working together in the WTO to try to bring about a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round and for the WTO accession of important partners such as Russia.

The European Commission supports the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table (EUJBDRT) a private-sector initiative to strengthen links between European and Japanese businesses. It comprises focused private-sector input to government authorities to promote trade and investment between Europe and Japan.

See also:

EU-Japan bilateral trade relations

EU-Japan trade statistics

Cooperation with the Japan Fair Trade Commission

Sectoral Co-operation and Agreements

For full details of agreements concluded with Japan see the Treaties Office Database

Economic Partnership and Business Cooperation

Council Regulation (EC) n° 1934/2006 (the Industrialised Countries Instrument (ICI)), promotes cooperation with Japan and other industrialised and other high-income countries and territories in North America, Asia-Pacific and in the Gulf Region.

The actions foreseen under the ICI provide support to strategic objectives of the Community’s external actions toward industrialised countries: intensification of political cooperation, advancement of EU economic interests, enhancement of global networking, and awareness of the European Union.

The specific actions carried out under the budgets 2007 - 2010 were organised around three main priority areas: public diplomacy and outreach, economic partnership and business cooperation, and people-to-people links.

For Japan, the economic partnership and business cooperation will build on existing initiatives already undertaken under the previous legal basis:

The EU Gateway Programme which assists small and medium sized companies to enter the Japanese market through missions in specific economic sectors.

The Executive Training Programme (ETP) which is a human resources development programme to enable executives of EU companies to build up an in-depth knowledge of Japanese business culture and language, thus improving their efficiency in the Japanese market. (In 2001, ETP was also extended to Korea.)

The EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Co-operation, which was established in Tokyo in 1987 and in Brussels in 1996, organises training courses and topical missions for EU managers in Japan. It also manages the Vulcanus Programme, which offers courses combining language and in-company training for Japanese engineering students in Europe and for European engineering students in Japan. The Centre also serves as the EU secretariat for the EUJBDRT.

Recent highlights in EU-Japan relations

Public Diplomacy

2010: 4th EU Institute to be established in Japan

The EU Institutes in Japan serve as a vehicle for developing EU-focused university curriculum-related activities at various levels of education, providing accurate up-to-date and comprehensive information about the EU, its policies and institutions; enhancing general awareness of the EU and its policies; facilitating and developing research work and studies on EU-related topics; promoting outreach activities of various kinds including contributing to the organisation of cultural events, publications, conferences, lectures related to the EU and EU policies and aiming at a wide public, political and media audience.

There are 3 EU Institutes in Japan:

In Tokyo: Hitotsubashi University (lead), Keio University and Tsuda College http://www.eusi.jp/

In Tokyo: Waseda University http://www.euij-waseda.jp/

In Kansaï: Kobe University (lead), Kwansein Gakuin University and Osaka University. http://www.euij-kansai.jp/about/index_en.html

Hitotsubashi University and Kobe University have been hosting their EU Centre since 2004. Waseda’s opened in February 2009.

Each Centre signed a Grant agreement of about 1 million (covering 4 years of operation) with the Commission (Head of Tokyo Delegation).

On 31 March 2010 the Delegation of the European Union to Japan launched a call for proposals for the establishment of a European Union Institute in Japan outside Kanto and Kansai regions. The earmarked budget is 800,000 Euros for 54 months project. Deadline for submission of the proposals: 25 June 2010.

More info at http://www.deljpn.ec.europa.eu/modules/about/tender/?ml_lang=en.Similar

EU Centres have been established since 1998 in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taipei. Further info at http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/eu-centres/index_en.htm