<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>On 1 January, the Strategic Partnership Agreement between the EU and Japan entered into force, establishing a comprehensive partnership by promoting political and sectoral cooperation in foreign and security policy, development policy, disaster management and humanitarian aid, economic and trade affairs, justice, freedom and security, education, youth, sport and culture.</strong></h4> According to the preamble to the text, Japan and the EU reaffirm with this agreement “their commitment to common values and principles, in particular democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, which form the basis of their long and deep cooperation as strategic partners.” Before the adoption of this agreement, the EU and Japan established, in 1991, the contractual bases for their mutual relationship by signing the Joint Declaration on relations between the European Community and its Member States and Japan. In 2001, the two parties raised their relations to the level of “strategic partners.” Negotiations for the present Strategic Partnership Agreement were launched in April 2013, accelerated in mid-2015, received a definitive boost with the political agreement in principle adopted in the framework of the XXIV EU-Japan Summit held in Brussels on 6 July 2017, and concluded in April 2018. The political agreement in principle was adopted in the framework of the XXIV EU-Japan Summit, held in Brussels on 6 July 2017, which gave impetus to the negotiations that concluded with the signing, on 17 July 2018 and during the XXV bilateral Summit, of the Strategic Agreement and the Economic Partnership Agreement. The Member States had previously signed the agreement in the framework of the previous meeting of COREPER II, held on 27 June 2018. On the part of Spain, it was signed ad referendum by the ambassador, permanent representative to the EU. Finally, the European Parliament approved this agreement at its plenary session on 12 December 2019 with 535 votes in favour, 84 against and 45 abstentions. The first EU States to ratify it were Latvia, Estonia and Malta, all three at the end of 2018, and the last was Ireland, last April. Shortly after Ireland's decision, the EU Council authorised the ratification of the agreement that same month. Finally, Japan and the EU as a whole formally ratified it on 1 November. In the case of Spain, the text was submitted by the Council of Ministers to the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament) n January 2019, but the dissolution of the Chambers and the call for elections prevented this, so it was necessary to submit it again to the Cortes in May 2020, while authorising the manifestation of Spain's consent to be bound by said Agreement. Finally, Spain ratified the text on 30 November 2020. According to the Government after submitting it to Parliament, Japan is the EU's “closest and most like-minded” partner in Asia. <h5><strong>The preamble</strong></h5> In the preamble, the two sides recognise that “growing global interdependence has given rise to the need to deepen international cooperation” and are “aware, as like-minded partners at the global level, of their shared responsibility and commitment to creating an equitable and stable international order, in accordance with the principles and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, and to achieving world peace, stability and prosperity, as well as human security.” The EU and Japan therefore undertake to “work closely together to respond to the major global challenges facing the international community, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, climate change, poverty and infectious diseases, as well as threats to the common interest in the maritime domain, cyberspace and outer space.” The two sides also undertake to ensure that “the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole will not go unpunished.” In this context, the EU and Japan are determined to “consolidate their global partnership in a comprehensive manner by developing political, economic and cultural ties and by means of agreements” and to “intensify their cooperation and maintain its overall coherence, in particular by strengthening consultations at all levels and launching joint actions on all issues of common interest”.
