European Union - Delegation of the European Commission to Japan

Mr Speaker, Mr. President, Prime Minister, distinguished members of the Diet,

This is my first visit to Japan since the successful Okinawa-Kyushu G8 Summit hosted by Japan two years ago.
Like most Europeans, I am full of admiration for Japan. A country with an ancient and refined culture at the cutting-edge of industry, science and technology.
So it is a particular pleasure and a privilege to address today the elected representatives of the Japanese people. I value that privilege all the more since I am the first President of the European Commission to do so.
I shall also have the honour this afternoon of being received by His Imperial Majesty.
And later in the day, when I meet my friend Prime Minister Koizumi, I hope to build on the success of the Europe-Japan summit last December in Brussels.
My programme is not entirely filled with official engagements, however. I shall also be visiting an internet café for young people set up by one of your best-known football players. A good example of the welcome Japan is extending to World Cup visitors from all over the world.
We are all confident that this summer's tournament co-hosted by Japan and Korea will be a great success.

Distinguished members,

We want to build a strong political partnership with Japan.
In the past our relations were dominated by economic concerns. Not surprisingly. When Japan and the European Union sit down to talk business, almost half of world output is on the table.
However, both of us now have to grapple with challenges at home and shoulder greater responsibilities abroad. We have much to share and to learn from each other. Cooperation across the whole spectrum of our relations will enrich us both.

Distinguished Members of the Diet,

You are, I know, well informed about the European Union.
Here, I should like to pay tribute to the efforts of the EU-Japan Parliamentary Friendship League. We owe much to farsighted pioneers in relations with Europe, such as the late Hori Shigeru and Kuranari Tadashi.
Many of you here today have also made important contributions. You will forgive me if I mention by name only Kono Yohei, simply to offer best wishes for a rapid recovery.
But let me bring you up to date with European developments.
The European Union faced a major test at the start of the year and passed with flying colours: the successful introduction of euro notes and coins. This was an event of historic proportions that will have far-reaching economic, political and even cultural consequences.
The euro is already improving stability and competition. It paves the way for the creation of one large capital market in Europe, with all that implies.

Meanwhile, the European single market is being consolidated by major liberalisation measures affecting financial services, telecommunications and energy markets.

The European Union has taken giant steps forward since the early days of the Community of Six. We are now gearing up for the entry of over 100 million citizens of the candidate countries into our existing Union of 380 million.
Preparations for accession have gone so well that we aim to have the first wave of candidate countries join the Union in time for the European Parliament elections in 2004.

Earlier in the year, the Union embarked on one of the biggest challenges of all: overhauling the Brussels institutions and the decision-making machinery.
The European Union is a unique political structure, made up of individual Member States that have come together for the common good but accept each other's differences.
Its way of operating now has to be updated to meet the requirements of an enlarged Union with global responsibilities.

What reforms do we need? This is what the newly-opened Convention on the Future of Europe has to decide. One of the issues it has to consider is the type of constitutional instrument needed by the new Europe.
But even more revolutionary is the make-up of the Convention itself: we are listening to grassroots political opinion from the whole of Europe to help map out the future.
Whatever the new institutions of Europe, it is the general public which should - and will - shape the future Union.

The European Union is above all a political enterprise. 
Unifying Europe economically and politically will help us overcome the enmities of the past and build a common future. 

Distinguished members of the Diet,

Our fundamental values, of democracy and of human rights, are values we share with Japan.
Like Japan, we seek a global political role and an influence commensurate with our economic weight.
We in the Union believe that we can contribute to stability and prosperity in Europe, among our neighbours and across the world through our willingness to reach out and engage.

In Central and Eastern Europe, the transition of the new democracies, focused on accession to the European Union, has been a success.

• We are strengthening relations with our neighbours along the shores of the Mediterranean. We have a shared history and culture: it is now time to share peace and prosperity.

In the war-torn Balkans our engagement, with the help of our partners of course, has achieved a great deal. The European Union is now working hard to integrate these countries into the European mainstream.

• In Asia, too, we want to foster progress and stability. I mention by way of example our food aid and humanitarian assistance to North Korea, our contribution to the Korean Energy Development Organisation (KEDO), and our support for the "sunshine" policy.

Not forgetting Afghanistan, where the European Union is making the largest contribution to the costs of reconstruction.

Japan has shown a similar willingness to reach out and engage. We appreciate your support to countries like Indonesia and Pakistan when they were under severe political and economic pressure.  We know Japan has made a major contribution to KEDO.
You have contributed to the multilateral reconstruction efforts in the Balkans and we are grateful for this generous support.

We also greatly appreciated Japan’s hosting of the donor conference for the reconstruction of Afghanistan in Tokyo last January and its substantial pledge of aid.
We are greatly shocked by the resumption of violence in the Middle East. We shall continue to work for a peaceful and lasting solution of the conflict together with our partners and friends: the United Nations, the US, Russia and, of course, Japan.
Let us be clear about this. A military solution is not a lasting solution. There can be no peace without justice for all.

Distinguished members of the Diet,

Japan and the European Union are not only alike in "engaging" with the world; we are alike in pursuing a multilateral, not a unilateral approach to tackling global problems.
In an age of globalisation we realise that cooperation is as important as competition.
That is why we have worked well together on international initiatives and in international organisations.

On terrorism, our joint declaration from last December's summit showed that Europe and Japan are determined to deal with the issues of nuclear proliferation, the financing of terrorism, and the causes of terrorism.
The European Union applauds your decision to join it in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Global warming is an issue of utmost importance for generations to come.
Living in harmony with our planet is imperative.

The European Union and Japan were also a major force in promoting the new Round of  trade negotiations. The Round's importance in safeguarding the multilateral WTO system and promoting future prosperity cannot be underestimated.
The European Union will not turn its back on countries that are in danger of being left behind.
To make the new WTO round a success we must get the poorer countries on board and offer active support for their development. That is why the European Union has lifted the tariffs and quotas on imports from the least-developed countries.
We both know the importance of reducing the gap between richer and poorer countries: we are the two largest aid donors in the world.

The European Union played a key role at the Monterrey development conference. It is now working hard to make a success of the Johannesburg Conference on sustainable development.
Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg are each crucial to coping with today’s economic and social challenges, and to harnessing globalisation for the good of all.

Distinguished members of the Diet,

Over the past ten years or so the overall pattern of international relations has been changing.
Our relations with Russia and China are today crucial in ensuring peace and stability.
With enlargement the European Union will share a much longer border with Russia. Before taking off to Japan, I met Prime Minister Kasyanov.

The agenda at the next EU-Russia Summit in a month’s time will cover the full spectrum of cooperation, from security to economic and trade relations.  
In the longer term, we want to develop a "Common European Economic Area" and new, stable arrangements for energy supplies.
China's entry into the WTO has been strongly supported by both the European Union and Japan. We both want China to be integrated fully into the international system and to join in building a prosperous and stable Asia.

I am also following with great interest moves to promote economic integration in the Asia Pacific region. There are enormous possibilities for fruitful co-operation that will benefit all players.
Amidst all this change, the partnership with the United States remains fundamental both for the European Union and for Japan. And we both rallied to their side after the dreadful events of September 11.
It is true that from time to time we have our differences with the US.

The recent steel measures are an example. And we shall not hesitate to defend our interests when we have to.
But the ties of friendship, common interests, and values that attach us  - each of us - to the United States far outweigh such quarrels.
As friends we can have a constructive dialogue, even when we disagree.

 Distinguished members of the Diet,

Our relationship is blossoming as never before.

Japan is one of Europe's largest trading partners. It is an important investor in Europe and provides many jobs. In turn, European firms are now growing investors in Japan.
We both recognise that there is still an enormous potential to expand two-way trade and investment, not least in high-tech sectors where Europe has much to offer.
But we have more than trade and investment to talk about.
I think that Japan and the EU should work even more closely together politically.
We share many of the same values.
We care about the health of the international system on which we both depend for our prosperity.
Some worry that Japan is too absorbed in its current economic problems to spare much time for ambitious foreign policy initiatives.
I do not take that view.
Japan is certainly experiencing some serious economic difficulties.
But I have no doubt it can overcome them and get its economy back on a sound footing.

As I told Prime Minister Koizumi last December, Japan can and must have confidence in itself and in its future.
Japan has huge economic, technical, scientific and marketing skills. These assets are not going to disappear.
Japan is and will remain a major economy. We should not fall into the trap of easy pessimism about Japan's future.
Japan’s problems are in many ways those of a mature economy.
A political consensus on the nature of the problems and how to deal with them is urgently required.
But I have no doubt that you will rise to this challenge.

Distinguished members of the Diet,

At last December's EU-Japan Summit we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the EU-Japan Political Declaration of 1991.
We agreed to step up cooperation and adopted a wide-ranging EU-Japan Action Plan.
Implementation of that Action Plan is already well under way and it will, I hope, be given fresh impetus at the summit this coming summer.

This Action Plan is a tangible expression of our partnership and what we can achieve by working together.
We will work together to tackle some of today’s most pressing global problems: nuclear proliferation, trafficking in human beings, and environmental degradation.
An important objective of the Action Plan is to bring our peoples closer together, through student exchanges, through cooperation between universities, through contacts between groups and associations, through tourism and the internet.

Geographical distance, different education systems and language barriers have perhaps been an obstacle to exchanges in the past. But where there is a will there is a way.
I am happy to announce that in this new spirit of people-to-people cooperation, the European Union and Japan are launching a joint pilot project to promote exchanges of university students.
A small project perhaps. But surely only the first of many fruitful exchanges in all fields.

Distinguished members of the Diet,

 I look for your active support to consolidate friendship and partnership between the European Union and Japan.
Ambitious political declarations are worth nothing without solid groundwork.
Japanese and European parliamentarians have done much to drive our partnership forward.

Let us work together to make the next ten years a decade of partnership between Japan and Europe. I myself will be doing everything in my power to build this partnership.

Thank you.