MEP welcomes prospect of closer co-operation between Japan and EU

Reinhard Bütikofer, the European Parliament's Rapporteur on EU-Japan relations, was speaking after the "Hydrogen High-Level Business Forum" in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, writes Martin Banks.

Japan is the EU's second-biggest trading partner in Asia after China. 

At the same time, Japan is the seventh largest partner for EU exports and imports of goods. Together, the EU and Japan account for about a quarter of the world's GDP.

The two sides also cooperate in each other's regions: Japan contributes to the reconstruction of the western Balkans and the EU supports international efforts to maintain peace in Korea and the rest of Asia.

 Bütikofer, a veteran German MEP, said: “The announcement of closer cooperation in the field of renewable energies and clean tech supply chains is very welcome and dearly needed good news.”

He went on: “So far EU-Japan partnership had been somewhat underdeveloped in the green sector.”

He noted that the EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have now agreed to put into practice what he says “is obviously imperative: pragmatic, focussed and mutually beneficial cooperation in future technologies among trusted partners”.

The deputy added: “This co-operation in the framework of the EU Japan Green Alliance is a prime example of the EU partnering with a likeminded country to achieve energy resilience and together advance the Green transition. This is not only helpful in combatting the climate crisis, it is also useful in order to jointly avoid a green tech dependency on players that might exploit a dominance in that sector for ulterior purposes.”

He said that, in the same vein, the recent signing by the EU and Australia of a Memorandum of Understanding for a bilateral partnership to cooperate on sustainable critical and strategic minerals is also an important step in the right direction.  

“The EU Commission's economic security strategy had already pointed out that playing defense against dumping and unfair subsidisation coming from China cannot be enough.

“We need to partner with others that are willing to adhere to the rules of the market. It is only positive that the EU is now walking the talk and also develops the external dimension of its industrial and economic policy. Supply chain resilience agreements are a crucial policy tool of the future. The Global Gateway Initiative could and should play an important role in this regard, too,” added the Greens MEP.

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