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EU Reportedly Seeks Defense Industry Partnerships with Japan, SKorea

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida adjusts microphones at the start of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, June 21, 2024. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida adjusts microphones at the start of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, June 21, 2024. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS
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EU Reportedly Seeks Defense Industry Partnerships with Japan, SKorea

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida adjusts microphones at the start of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, June 21, 2024. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida adjusts microphones at the start of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, June 21, 2024. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS

The European Union is seeking security and defense industry partnerships with Japan and South Korea aimed at joint development of military equipment, the Nikkei reported on Sunday, citing a senior EU commission official.
These would mark the EU's first such security and defense-related collaboration with Asian nations, the Japanese business newspaper said in a report from Brussels that did not identify the official.
The bloc hopes to reach a ministerial-level agreement with Japan by year end, which could help the EU fund joint projects managed by Japanese and European companies, the Nikkei said.
Representatives of Japan's foreign ministry and the South Korean and EU delegations in Tokyo were not immediately available for comment on the report on Sunday, Reuters said.
Japan, despite a constitution that renounces war, says it faces "the most severe and complex security environment since World War Two". In recent years it has boosted its defense industry in its largest postwar military expansion, expressing concern about threats from Asia neighbors China and North Korea.
Tokyo signed a treaty last year to establish a program to develop an advanced fighter jet with Britain and Italy.
This month Japan started talks with the United States on forging deeper defense industry collaboration under the US-Japan Forum on Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment, established in April by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Joe Biden.
Japan-US discussions have so far focused on naval repairs in Japan that could help free up US yards to build more warships, but cooperation could be extended to aircraft repairs, missile production and military supply-chain resilience.
Tokyo seeks to counter China’s increasing maritime assertiveness and has expressed concerns over any potential instability in the Taiwan strait.
It has sought deeper defense cooperation with the United States and the Philippines, and last week conducted a maritime exercise with the US, Canada and the Philippines in the South China Sea, where China's expansive claims conflict with those of several other Asian nations.

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Greece Fights Dozens of Wildfires in 'Most Difficult Day of Year'

Firefighters arrive to extinguish a wildfire burning in Stamata, near Athens, Greece, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
Firefighters arrive to extinguish a wildfire burning in Stamata, near Athens, Greece, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
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Greece Fights Dozens of Wildfires in 'Most Difficult Day of Year'

Firefighters arrive to extinguish a wildfire burning in Stamata, near Athens, Greece, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
Firefighters arrive to extinguish a wildfire burning in Stamata, near Athens, Greece, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Elias Marcou

Firefighters were battling a series of wildfires near the Greek capital Athens on Sunday evening, as the country braces for another scorching summer.
Greece faces a tough wildfire season after its warmest winter and earliest heatwave on record, with temperatures hitting 44°C (111°F), said AFP.
"Today in Attica two extremely dangerous fires that broke out in residential areas and spread rapidly due to strong winds in Keratea and Stamata were tackled", Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias said late on Sunday.
He said there was no longer an active front in Stamata, north of Athens, though there were some minor reignitions in the eastern area of Keratea.
He said "ground forces will remain in the field throughout the night".
Since Sunday midday, the authorities have called for the evacuation of at least eight areas near the capital, with flames destroying cars and houses.
Ert channel reported that a 45-year-old-man died from a cardiac arrest while trying to flee fires in suburban Athens.
According to the police, the man was found unconscious in the yard of a house in Rodopoli and taken to hospital where he died.
"Today is the hardest that the Fire Brigade has faced in this year's firefighting season," fire department spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis said on Sunday afternoon, during an emergency press briefing.
"The situation is very difficult, as strong winds continue to blow, they have not subsided and the outbreaks are many," the mayor of Lavreotiki, Dimitris Loukas, told Athens News Agency Sunday afternoon.
However he said a nearby military air base was not currently in danger from the flames.
Fire brigade spokesman noted that wind speeds had exceeded 60 km per hour in Keratea, while in Stamata, the blaze was fanned by strong northerly winds exceeding 70 km an hour.
Island fires
A fire also broke out Sunday in an industrial zone in Ritsona, near the island of Evia.
Black smoke filled the sky above Ritsona after the fire started in a recycling factory, burning various flammable materials that were in the grounds around it, including tyres and mattresses.
Firefighters are fighting to prevent the flames from spreading beyond the recycling plant to other factories in the area.
The fire also approached a refugee center, but the Athens News Agency reported that this was not believed to be in danger.
Separately, a large wildfire broke out on Serifos island on Saturday afternoon, but was also brought under control by firefighters early Sunday.
"All of southwestern Serifos has burned. We are talking about an area where the fire stopped at the sea," Serifos mayor Konstantinos Revintis told MEGA TV.
The fire caused damage to houses, cottages, warehouses and chapels, according to the mayor.
The Fire Danger Forecast Map issued for Sunday by the Civil Protection Ministry predicted a very high category 4 risk of fire for Attica, the Peloponnese, Crete, the North and South Aegean Regions, and central Greece.
A wildfire ignited Saturday afternoon in the area of Mount Parnitha-- known as "the lungs of Athens" -- was controlled Saturday evening with the help of reinforcements from other regions as well as volunteer firefighters.
More than forty wildfires erupted across Saturday in Greece with wind speeds exceeding 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour, according to fire brigade sources.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Greeks to brace for a difficult wildfire season in his weekly Facebook post on Sunday.
"The difficult times are still ahead of us. Our effort is continuous. In this effort, our allies are new tools that build a new culture of prevention and responsibility," he said.