Tag: Japan

Once again Europe is trailing the United States, Japan and South Korea when it comes to boosting innovation and meeting EU targets of devoting 3% of GDP to research and development.

Japanese business has been hit hard by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and Korea, galvanising political will in Tokyo to push quickly for its own FTA, negotiators on both sides have told EurActiv.

European ports should check radiation levels on all ships coming from Japan to see if they exceed a new limit after last month's nuclear accident, the European Union's executive said on Friday (15 April).

Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats lost power yesterday (27 March) in the rich state of Baden-Württemberg, where anti-nuclear sentiment had been mobilised by radiation leaks from an earthquake-stricken nuclear plant in Japan. The vote is not expected to cost her the job, but would certainly limit her ability to pass legislation.

A 40-year old Spanish nuclear power plant built to the same design model as Fukushima's disaster-struck reactor number one has become engulfed by calls for it to be shut down, while Brussels is questioning the safety of EU installations and has pushed for stress tests of nuclear power plants.

Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger called at a hastily-convened meeting of ministers yesterday (15 March) for the introduction of safety "stress tests" at nuclear power plants in Europe. He commended the  safety standards currently in place in EU countries, but at the same time told German media that Europe must consider a "foreseeable future" without nuclear energy.

The European Commission is looking at removing trade barriers with Japan after signing a milestone free trade agreement with South Korea earlier this month, according to a draft EU trade strategy seen by EurActiv, scheduled to be published next week..

The EU and Japan announced they would seek greater convergence in their approaches to an international framework to address climate change following their annual summit on 23 April. The two sides also addressed rising commodity prices, development and economic uncertainty.

The first case of BSE has been confirmed in Japan after a cow tested positive in the Chiba area near Tokyo. The case comes only months after the government played down European warnings that Japanese cattle were at risk. This is the first known case of BSE in Japan and in Asia.