The delay to the summit, which meant no top-level meeting took place in 2012, was originally caused by

Japan’s precondition that the EU member states give the European Commission a mandate beforehand. When the summit was eventually scheduled for March, the financial crisis in Cyprus forced the presidents of the European Commission and Council, José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, to postpone.

The eight-month delay ensures that the summit will come shortly before another critical milestone, the anniversary of the start of trade talks in April. EU member states with large carmakers stipulated that talks with Japan could continue beyond next April only if Japan had clearly demonstrated a willingness to open its markets.

Japan entered the talks having made more concessions than any trading partner previously, EU officials said, but the potential significance of the safeguard clause has contributed to a reluctance on both sides to discuss the progress of the talks.

This will be the first summit since Shinzo Abe became prime minister of Japan and the sixth successive summit with a Japanese leader new to the post. Like the EU, Japan is currently engaged in talks on trade liberalisation with the world’s largest national market, the United States.

The EU and Japan are also in the process of negotiating a political agreement intended to provide a basis for other aspects of the relationship, such as increasingly close co-operation on cyber-security, international security and space. EU officials highlight research as an area in which the relationship is shallower than the developed nature of both economies would suggest it should be.

The EU’s determination to link the political and trade agreements is, however, a bone of contention.

Andrew Gardner

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