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European Council President Donald Tusk (right) and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker (center) with Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe in Brussels in May last year | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

As Japanese Prime Minister Shinz Abe visitsBrussels Tuesday, the European Union facesintensifyingpressure to deliver on a promised pivot to Asia by sealing a new trade accord and strategic political partnership with Japanbefore years end.

Since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, European leaders have rushed to style themselves as the new vanguard of global free trade and pledged to fill the vacuum created by an increasingly protectionist United States.

Zeroing in on fast-growing markets, the Europeans argue that Trumps withdrawal from a landmark 12-nation trade accord in the Asia-Pacific region creates an economicopportunity and geopolitical imperative to build a bridgehead there. While European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrm has cast Brussels as the heavyweight alternative to Washington for partners ranging from Mexico to Indonesia, Asian governments are looking to Europe for stability and leadership.

But the EUs protracted battle to secure a trade deal with Japan, a longtime ally and Asias most mature democracy, lays bare the challenges and frustrations of trying to become a bigger player in the East.

The EU is hardly astranger to Asian deals, having negotiated major accords with South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam. And inBrussels, senior officials professoptimism about clinching the agreement with Tokyo, which would be their biggest trade deal. Buoyed by a recent pact with Canada, officials are hoping to use Abes visit to build momentum.

Support is growing for a Japan accord among German automobile manufacturers, one of the most powerful groups in European industry.

Europe remains the champion of open, rules-based trade, not least due to signs of protectionism emerging elsewhere, European Council President Donald Tusk declared after the most recent EU summit. Trade is central to our economic success, Tusk added. And so we will swiftly advance ongoing negotiations such as with Japan.

As in the case of Canada, the EU is simultaneously negotiating a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Japan that would enhance cooperation on a wide array of geopolitical issues, including security, nuclear nonproliferation, rule of law and human rights.

Still,achieving afree-trade pact with Japan would be the most concrete symbol of the EUs pivot to Asia and its ability to lead as the U.S. retreats. But failing to complete the Japan deal would send an equally powerful negative signal, and the road so far has not been easy.

Negotiations between Tokyo and Brussels have dragged in seeming slow-motion since their formal start in 2013, and have effectively stalled at several junctures, including last year when a disputeover opening Japans agricultural market ledofficials to scrap the annual EU-Japan summit. In addition to Tokyos highly defensive position on farming, the talks have also stumbledover disagreements about data transfers and public procurement contracts in the railway industry.

Trumps election and his refusal this weekend to support the G20s traditional anti-protectionist pledge has not made negotiating any of these thorny deal-breakers any easier.Fraser Cameron,director of the EU-Asia Centre, a Brussels-based think tank,said that the new political context had not eliminated the many areas of disagreement, technical complications and, in some cases, contradictory political goals that have bedeviled the talks.

My own view is that, although there is a new world trade situation with Trump, there are still many uncertainties, Cameron said. Japan says it is serious about concluding a free-trade agreement this year, but then we have heard that every year for some time. They now say they have to wait for reform of the dairy sector in coming weeks.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the Ise-Jingu Shrine on May 26, 2016 | Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Despite such skepticism, Kazuo Kodama, the Japanese ambassador to the EU, repeated the assertion that a deal would be struck by the year-end. Our leaders are serious, he said in a speech in Brussels Wednesday ahead of Abes trip to Europe, which also includes stops in France, Italy and at CeBIT, a high-tech trade expoin Germany.

Both sides, I think, are more than ever committed to conclude the agreement this year, definitely at least in principle, Kodama said.

A European Commission official said a deal in principle meant a political agreement, essentially settling 90 percent of an accord.

While Japan is the biggest prize in the EUs courtship of the Asia-Pacific region, Malmstrm is also targeting a host of smaller deals, including ongoing negotiations with Indonesia and the Philippines. Taken together, the EU and Asia account for more than 60 percent of world GDP and more than 60 percent of world trade.

But while the incentives are great, so are the obstacles, including a broad range of frustrating problems for Brussels. The future of a trade agreement with Manila is shadowed by human rights concerns overPresident Rodrigo Dutertes brutal drug war. Talks with Southeast Asian countries musttackle the vexing issue of palm oil, which Western environmentalists argue causes devastating deforestation.

The EUs trade ambitions toward China are more limited, and Brussels is largely tied down in disputes over investors rights and anti-dumping duties.

Japans ability to strike a deal with the EU is complicated still further by Tokyos special relationship with the U.S., its indispensable military ally in regional power struggles with China and North Korea.

Abe was the first major player on the world stage to cozy up to Trump as president-elect visiting him in Trump Tower last November and Japan seems wary of taking any steps that might provoke Washington. A trade deal with the EU potentially creates headaches for Japanese negotiators, as they would probably have to at least match concessions offered to Europe in any bilateral deal with the U.S.

Yet,despite these complications and stumbling blocks, there are glimmers of some concrete progress between the EU and Japan.

European Commissioner for Justice Vra Jourov is set to announce Monday the startof talks for a data transfer deal together with Japans Economy Minister Hiroshige Sek. The deal will complement the future EU-Japan free-trade agreement, Jourov said.

Yorizumi Watanabe, professorof international political economy at Keio University and a former Japanese trade negotiator, said there was a growing sense that Tokyo could not protect its sacrosanct farmers forever.

Through the Trans-Pacific Partnership debate in Japan, there has a kind of emerging consensus grown within the Japanese society that we need a reform on agriculture, he said.

Boosting the chances of a deal even further, support is growing for a Japan accord among German automobile manufacturers, one of the most powerful and influential groups in European industry.

Look at the many high-level meetings Abe is having with Merkel, Watanabe said. They meet this month at the CeBIT in Hanover, then in May for the G7 leaders meeting in Sicily and in July for the G20 in Hamburg. By July, I would expect Abes agriculture reforms to be completed. That could be the defining moment to move forward on the trade deal.

Laurens Cerulus contributed reporting.

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EU reaches for the rising sun - POLITICO.eu

DUBAI // Although the European Union faced many challenges in relocating and resettling millions of refugees, a senior EU official says there have been improvements in the past month.

Since the EU began doing so in October 2015, about 10,000 people have been relocated from Greece and about 4,000 from Italy.

Last month, about 2,000 people were relocated from the two countries, compared with fewer than 250 people in the same period last year. More than 14,400 people have been relocated in all.

"I have to admit that some times there are differences and different approaches about policies," said Christos Stylianides, the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid.

"We faced a lot of problems regarding this scheme but regardless of any differences, the framework is very concrete in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

"Its quite important to keep our moral framework as Europeans and I completely disagree with all of them who believe we can cope with the present situation where we build fences and walls."

Mr Stylianides said border control was important but helping refugees was a humanitarian duty.

He pointed to Germany as an example of a country that has welcomed 1.5 million refugees. Other European countries such as Greece, Italy, France, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and Portugal showed generosity and maturity in accommodating refugees, said Mr Stylianides.

The EU has spent more than 90 billion (Dh354.8bn) on resolving the global refugee crisis, particularly in Syria.

Mr Stylianides said the EU believed that focusing on education "is the only way to deal with this unprecedented situation on the ground". He added: "Otherwise, our work after 15 years will be in vain because of the lost education and we will see a lost generation."

Mr Stylianides said he had increased his budget for refugee childrens education after meeting a refugee family in Lebanon in 2013. "We provided them shelter, food and all the basic needs. Although the mother thanked me, she said her children needed a future, prospects and education. For me, it was a real trigger to focus on education," he said.

cmalek@thenational.ae

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European Union reports improvements in its relocation of refugees - The National

A number of Brazilian meat imports have been temporarily barred from entering the European Union amid a scandal over rotten products.

Claims have emerged that companies used chemicals to improve the appearance and smell of expired meats.

Since then, 38 arrest warrants have been issued and the import of some Brazilian meats into the bloc halted.

JBS, the largest meat processing company in the world, and BRF are the two companies implicated.

Brazil, one of the world's largest exporters of meat, would be hit hard by any form of ban.

And the EU's Brazilian spokesman Enrico Brivio warned that any companies involved in the scandal would be slapped with temporary restrictions.

China, it has been reported, has also imposed a form of temporary ban on affected meats.

Brazil's president Michel Temer convened an emergency meeting on Sunday, however, insisting the country's meats are safe.

Last updated Mon 20 Mar 2017

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European Union temporarily bans several Brazilian meat imports amid rotten products claim - ITV News

Paul Nuttall blasted eurocrats whose constant attempts to give the European Union more power have left the project facing an existential crisis.

The Brexiteer, speaking from the European Parliament, Strasbourg, urged caution amongst colleagues who are set to celebrating the Treaty of Romes 60th birthday.

Mr Nuttall mocked the pro-European politicians, suggesting their celebrations could well be in vain as Theresa Mays triggering of Article 50 could open the floodgates to other countries looking to sever ties with Brussels.

He said: I am going to speak quickly about the Treaty of Rome. Even though Britain wasnt an original signatory it would be churlish of me not to accept that it was a noble and grand plan put together by men and women who witnessed the holocaust.

EUPARLGETTY

What began as a noble economic plan has evolved into a political monster

Paul Nuttall

To paraphrase the Scottish poet Robbie Burns, The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and boy has this gone awry!

What began as a noble economic plan has evolved into a political monster, egged on by successive eurocrats who are hungry for ever more power and determined to destroy the nation state.

What continues to amaze me is that youll never learn, you talk about an existential crisis but you say what is needed is even more EU.

You are fiddling while the Treaty of Rome burns, so what I will say is simply this; I urge caution when you are celebrating next week because Brexit could trigger a floodgate whereby other countries leave that same treaty you are celebrating.

Theresa May announced she would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, allowing Britain to engage in formal divorce talks with Brussels.

The Prime Minister is expected to make a short statement to the House of Commons on March 29, before immediately sending the letter to EU headquarters which will formally trigger Brexit talks.

In response, Brussels issued a confident response to the announcement, telling Mrs May: Were ready.

EU Commission chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a briefing in Brussels that eurocrats were ready to begin talks immediately and they have a comprehensive plan in place.

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GREAT YARMOUTH: The town of Great Yarmouth on the East Coast of England voted by 72% to leave the European Union.

He said everything is ready on this side and laid out the technical process by which the other 27 member states will formally hand down a mandate to Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Mr Schinas added: From us guys, the reply is the following: Yes, we have been informed in advance, we are ready to begin negotiations.

We are ready for the letter now we know it is to come on March 29 and yes, everything is ready on this side.

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'A POLITICAL MONSTER!' Nuttall SAVAGES eurocrats as Brexit opens floodgates to destroy EU - Express.co.uk

BERLIN Senior German officials cast doubt Saturday on Turkeys chances of joining the European Union, amid growing tensions with Ankara over human rights and Turkeys claim that its being treated unfairly by countries in western Europe.

In an interview published by Hamburg weekly Der Spiegel, Germanys foreign minister suggested that for now the most that Turkey can hope for is to one day achieve a privileged partnership with the bloc.

Turkey is further away than ever before from EU membership, Sigmar Gabriel was quoted as saying.

Gabriel said he was always skeptical of the idea of Turkish EU membership. He told Der Spiegel that upcoming negotiations about the EUs future relationship with Britain might provide a blueprint for Turkey in the long term.

Thomas Oppermann, the parliamentary caucus leader of Gabriels Social Democrats, said Turkeys chances of joining the EU would be gone for good if the country reintroduced the death penalty, as Erdogan has suggested.

(Erdogans) announcement makes clear that he isnt interested in joining at all, said Oppermann. Erdogan is clearly on the wrong path and hes harming Turkish interests.

Relations between Berlin and Ankara have soured recently over a German Parliament resolution labeling the 20th century killing of Armenians as genocide, Turkeys crackdown on the opposition and civil society following a failed coup last summer, and appearances in Germany by Turkish officials campaigning for constitutional change in an upcoming referendum.

A German satirists poem poking fun at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the arrest of a German-Turkish journalist in Istanbul have further fanned tensions between the two countries.

Erdogans call Friday for Turks living in Europe to have at least five children, as a response to Europes injustices, has also angered German nationalists who responded by renewing calls for an end to dual citizenship.

Ankara, meanwhile, has accused Germany of allowing the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, to hold rallies in Germany. Kurds make up a sizable number of the over 3 million people of Turkish origin in Germany.

About 30,000 Kurds gathered in the central city of Frankfurt on Saturday to protest against the constitutional reforms sought by Erdogan, which would give the president greater power.

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Turkey won't be joining European Union any time soon - Press Herald