Text tabled : B7-0297/2012

  Philippe Boulland (PPE), in writing. – (FR) The 20th EU-Japan Summit in Brussels, on 28 May 2011, gave the green light to launching discussions with a view to defining the scope and level of ambition of such negotiations on the EU-Japan trade agreement. However, the EU must remain firm and obtain the removal of regulatory barriers to trade, without which we will find ourselves back in the same kind of negotiations as we had over the EU-Korea agreement. A group was given the task of assessing the shared understanding on the scope and level of ambition of the potential trade negotiations between Japan and the EU. Until the European Parliament has stated its position on the proposed negotiating mandate, we do not wish the Council to open negotiations. Too much is at stake for European industry not to remain extremely vigilant over the safeguard clauses that must be provided in this type of agreement.