Dies ist eine HTML Version eines Anhanges der Informationsfreiheitsanfrage 'EU-Japan Business Round Table'.

Keynote speech by Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska 
 
EU-Japan Business Round table, Tokyo, 20 April 2016 
 
Name of Cabinet Member: 
 
Name of the Director who has cleared the material: E.Mamer 
Speech reviewed by speechwriter: Yes 
BASIS request ID: CAB BIENKOWSKA/187 
Room, time: Hotel New Otani, Tokyo 
Participants:
, Tomasz Husak,
, A.Peltomäki,
 
 
Name of main contact person: 
 
Telephone number:
 
Directorate/Unit: A/4 
 
 
 
Main messages of speech: 

1.  EU and Japan need to work together to promote more jobs and more growth in 
an open world. 
2.  In  the  EU,  we  are  doing  our  best  to  improve  the  business  environment,  set  an 
ambitious agenda for our circular economy and tackle, the overcapacity problem 
in the steel sector. 

3.  We can do more together, especially by finalising the FTA. 
The key tweetable lines of the speech: 
1.  There are many people who say that we should all shut our markets and shut our 
borders. This has one major design flaw. It doesn't work. (139) 
2.  Every effort on both sides should be made to speed up the process and reach a 
comprehensive and balanced FTA agreement. (122) 
 
 

 
EU and Japan, same challenges, common agenda 
Keynote speech by Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska 
EU-Japan Business Round Table, Tokyo 
20 April 2016 
Introduction 
Minister, Vice-Ministers, Chairmen, Ladies and Gentlemen,  
It is a pleasure to be here in Tokyo.  
I am sorry that I was unable to join you last year in Brussels.  
I want to start by saying how much I value the work that you do. 
You don't just promote engagement and cooperation between Japan and the EU. 
You also act as a bridge for that engagement, exploring new ways of moving forward. 
And  you  have  a  valuable  policy  voice,  helping  both  sides  improve  our  policies  and 
regulations. 
 
That voice is much needed right now. 
Around the world, employment, growth and investment are too low. 
In all continents, there are many people who offer simplistic and appealing solutions. 
They say that we should all shut our markets and shut our borders. 
This solution has one major design flaw. 
It doesn't work. 
It has never worked. 
Indeed, it would make things worse. 
Fewer jobs, more misery. 
 
So  we  need  voices  like  yours,  pointing  out  the  flaws  in  those  arguments  and  working 
with us to find solutions. 
The European Commission is a partner to you in this. 


We  are  doing  everything  we  can  to  promote  more  jobs  and  more  growth  in  an  open 
world. 
Today,  I  will  give  you  three  examples  of  areas  currently  very  high  on  our  respective 
agendas. 
First, improving the business environment and creating more opportunities. 
Second, the benefits from a strong circular economy. 
And  third,  how  to  deal  with  global  overcapacity  in  energy-intensive  materials  and 
especially steel. 
 
Improving the business environment 
Let me start with the business environment. 
 
In Europe, we are addressing this across our work. 
We are making it easier for our digital businesses. 
We are cutting red tape through our Better Regulation agenda. 
And we are making it easier for our businesses to access finance. 
 
But a special focus is on improving our Single Market. 
We have done a lot already but we need to do more. 
The EU Single Market already offers opportunities for professionals and businesses. 
And greater choice and lower prices for consumers.  
But many Single Market rules 
  are not known,  
  are not properly implemented  
  or are jeopardised by unjustified barriers. 
 
I know that this is important for you. 
Improvements in the Single Market will make EU more attractive for Japanese investors.  
 


And I know your priorities. 
"Intellectual  property  rights,  Consumer  empowerment,  Services,  Networks,  The  digital 
single market, Taxation, Business environment." 

 
Last autumn, the Commission published its new Single Market Strategy.  
We put an emphasis on three things: 
  Creating more opportunities; 
  Modernising; and 
  Delivery 
I do not have time to list everything that we are doing. 
So let me focus on three things that I think are of interest to you. 
 
First, we will propose a services passport to reduce the burden on companies looking to 
offer services cross-border. 
There are still too many strict regulatory requirements in many Member States such as 
on shareholding rules. 
So we will simplify procedures. 
This will help businesses such as yours. 
 
Second, we are consolidating and modernising our intellectual property framework. 
There are three key actions that we have announced: 
  Addressing uncertainties over the introduction of the Unitary Patent; 
  Making it easier for SMEs to protect their intellectual investments;  
  And  reviewing  the  IPR  enforcement  framework  to  take  a  "follow  the  money" 
approach. 
Again, this will help businesses such as yours. 
 
Third, we are putting much greater focus on implementation and delivery. 
That  means  working  with  national  governments  to  make  sure  that  laws  are 
implemented and enforced correctly. 
It  means  making  sure  that  our  citizens  and  businesses  are  more  aware  of  their  rights 
and able to enforce them. 


And it means more effective monitoring and surveillance under existing laws. 
All this will help businesses such as yours. 
 
The circular economy  
Ladies and gentlemen, we don't just need a good business environment. 
We also need to plan for the future. 
And part of that is making better use of our natural resources in the circular economy. 
We have a lot to learn from Japan.  
Japanese  recycling  rates  are  extraordinary:  the  country  recycles  98  per  cent  of  its 
metals. 
Japan’s  appliance  recycling  laws  ensure  that  the  great  majority  of  electrical  and 
electronic products are recycled, compared with 30–40 per cent in Europe.  
Many of these materials go back into the manufacture of the same type of products.  
 
Some parts of European industry have also been doing it for a long time. 
However, it is not happening everywhere.  
So last year, we launched our Circular Economy package.  
We  identified  over  50  concrete  actions  aimed  at  improving  framework  conditions  for 
doing business and for investing.  
From the competitiveness angle, let me highlight three important aspects. 
Firstly, the Single Market needs to work for a circular economy.  
So,  for  instance,  we  will  propose  options  to  ensure  that  our  waste,  products  and 
chemicals policies interact better.  
And we will launch work to develop quality and measurement standards for secondary 
raw materials.  
Secondly,  we  will  promote  best  practices  and  improve  our  raw  materials  information 
system. 
Making better use of our secondary raw materials helps to increase security of supply. 
 
Finally, we want to address bottlenecks and barriers in specific sectors.  


So for instance, we will develop a strategy for plastics in the Circular Economy, a report 
on  critical  raw  materials  and  voluntary  guidelines  to  boost  high-value  recycling  in  the 
construction sector.  
And  we  plan  to  make  the  circular  economy  agenda  part  of  our  international 
cooperation. 
We need to think and act together with our partners like Japan.  
 
Global overcapacity 
Ladies  and  gentlemen,  as  well  as  planning  for  the  future,  we  need  to  deal  with  the 
problems in the present. 
And one of the hottest issues is steel. 
We  recently  adopted  a  strategy  setting  out  how  the  European  steel  sector  can 
overcome its short-term and long-term challenges.  
The sector faces serious challenges fuelled by global overcapacity, a dramatic increase 
of exports and an unprecedented wave of unfair trading practices.  
 
Part of what we do will be domestic. 
We are looking at how we can ensure greater investment in the sector. 
Our European Fund for Strategic Investments will help. 
As will the work I have outlined on the Circular Economy. 
And we are addressing the issue of reskilling our workers. 
 
But we also need to address the trade dimension. 
We are determined to get rid of the distortions that some countries impose. 
You know which ones I am referring to. 
So we will make more intensive use of EU trade defence instruments.  
And we will work with our major partners who face the same challenges. 
We are talking to our main partners as well as in relevant international fora such as the 
OECD and the WTO.   
We all need a coherent and consistent approach in our relations with China. 


I would like to thank Japan for their constructive and responsive approach. 
 
Conclusion: we need to make progress on trade 
But  honourable  ministers,  chairmen,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  EU  and  Japan  can  do 
even more together. 
Japan is an important partner for the EU. 
It is a highly developed economy and a major global trader and investor. 
If  we  can  work  together  effectively  on  the  basis  of  open  markets,  our  economies  will 
gain, our businesses will gain, and our consumers will gain. 
The Free Trade Agreement that we are negotiating will stimulate growth on both sides. 
 
I know that the Business Roundtable agrees and supports this. 
In your recommendations for 2016, you called for progress. 
You called for political intervention to break the deadlocks. 
I agree. 
That is why I am here in Tokyo. 
We need to make progress on market access for goods. 
We need to make progress on procurement. 
We need to make progress on automotive. 
This can be done. 
We just need to push on. 
Every  effort  on  both  sides  should  be  made  to  speed  up  the  process  and  reach  a 
comprehensive and balanced agreement. 
That is the best way to silence those who call for closed markets and closed borders. 
 
Thank You