European Union ministers were weighing Thursday whether to launch negotiations with Japan on a free trade agreement, amid concerns about how it may affect the European car industry, according to dpa. "The trade agreement and the start of negotiations with Japan is very important because Japan is (one of the) biggest trade partners for the EU," said Cypriot Commerce Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis, whose country currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency. "I think we are in the last stage," he added. "We will try to find the political willingness ... to take at the end one decision." The EU and Japan have already carried out year-long consultations to determine the potential scope of the agreement. The EU's executive, the European Commission, asked EU governments to give it a negotiating mandate in July. But member states with important car markets - including Germany - are still hesitant to proceed, with concerns about the difficulty their manufacturers have had to access the Japanese market so far due to technical and other hurdles, diplomats said. Japanese-made cars are widely present on European markets. "The commission is fully aware of concerns among certain member states, notably related to non-tariff barriers in Japan," it said in a note prepared for Thursday's talks. "This is exactly why the commission agreed with Japan - even before potential negotiations started - that Europe can 'pull the plug' on negotiations after one year if Japan does not show evidence of removing certain non-tariff barriers," it added. One EU source described the concession as unprecedented. "I think it's very important that we show Japan that we've not just been talking about negotiations, but we will also open them," Danish Trade Minister Pia Olsen told journalists ahead of the talks in Brussels.
