this is business agent e.w. i'm glad elf as welcome. singapore and the european union are one step closer to signing off on the free trade deal it's a sign of the deeper push for open market accords with countries all over asia the european parliament will vote on the deal by wednesday afternoon and it looks like it will pass that first hurdle it's the use first trade agreement with a member of the association of i'm sorry southeast asian nations a group of countries in the region that have teamed up to promote economic growth the deal and story move urgently all barriers to trade within five years in twenty seventeen trade in goods alone between the un singapore amounted to more than fifty three billion euros it's hoped the agreement will result in a rise of up to ten percent in bilateral trade the u.s. already singapore is more important export destination for services and singapore

is one of the use largest trading partners in the region. but the new trade agreement with singapore is not without its critics spend long a german social democrat and chairman of the e.u. parliament parliaments trade committee says a syrup or still lacks its commitment to workers' rights my colleague max hoffman spoke to him earlier today in brussels. mr long your party the german s.p.d. rejects the free trade agreement with singapore why the. two sides of the coin it's a quite good agreement but indeed movement is all too clear that we quest for the simple insight to what you find the sweet old saying oh level convention and this is the other side of the coin the senior police are not really committed to do so and it's about workers' rights workers rights the collective bargaining possibilities under discrimination of workers a workplace and we ask him for

a long long time i myself was in singapore last year in february asking i'm sure that you are really committed to do so and nothing happened and for the delegation decided not to vote for the agreement but is it really worth i mean the advantages seem to be quite big most are expecting a ten percent increase in trade over the next five years between the e.u. and singapore is it really worth jeopardizing the agreement for those two workers' rights norms that you're criticizing it's in total of three but the most important i mentioned but we remember we want to have a twenty fault strategy so that the benefit of trade comes to the people on the ground. fundamental work of whites the right to have independent trade unions is a crucial instrument to guarantee that workers are really benefiting from the

increase in trade in the past for example for sita and also for t. to the negotiations the criticism was often that these free trade agreements only benefit the big companies big money and not regular people isn't this the case for this agreement as well. of course there will be an increase in g.d.p. because of the trade. and once again we have to go on t.v. that the people on the ground are really benefiting from that and therefore we are really the cresta singh appoints to show their commitment in what occasions is fundamental rights by the way vietnam is also in discussion about the trade agreement and vietnam is reflecting our request and they are preparing a form of the naval court in vietnam so that's a white approach so you have a feeling that people are less up in arms as they were in the past against these free trade agreements have people in the european union accept that they are

necessary there's an open discussion and i think that's also important because modern trade women's have not only to deal with terrorists but also with rules stand it's because labor and environmental rights and therefore an open to and spend discussion is necessary and i think this is one killer meant to have to get acceptance for twenty agreements so long and thank you very much. from brussels but here's another thing gus two hundred fifty six billion euro cents the amount of bilateral investment volumes between the e.u. and singapore let's bring in the hang who is in singapore. is a tiny country at how can the e.u. simple trade and investment volume be so big. well singapore may be tiny but it is quite the powerhouse in that interview with the b.b.c. a prime minister did it meant that the he was an ambitious malls that being said

singapore has always been a very important to see and particularly with the e.u. just to give you an illustration of how that looks like the e.u. is singapore's biggest foreign investment as well as the a lot of just foreign trade much a part of the singapore currently is home to ten thousand european companies and that is growing so this agreement is not only going to that if it the big guys the small and medium enterprises in singapore as well as in the e.u. are going to benefit greatly from this agreement as well. with the rest of the asean countries have a similar agreement or will they strive to have assimilate agreement with the u. well the hope is that that will happen in the future how far away that future is remains to be seen emmy's be known this most also is supposed to be a show or

a demonstration of fostering and encouraging peaceful multilateral trade of trade relationships particularly amid the treaty tensions that's happening between the u.s. and china are right now under the e.u. singapore. exports originating from us and countries are going to be considered it as a originating from singapore as well so this is going to be a very street prone route of benefits between the e.u. singapore as well as the asean countries. and hang on they are here between the european union and singapore thank you very much andrea. well now to some of the other global business news headlines the u.s. has one european allies against using equipment made by chinese telecoms provider walk away secretary of state might compare said on wednesday it would make it

harder to work together germany and poland among countries considering banning products from y. way which has close ties to the chinese military. more trouble for german payment services provider why a card investors in the u.s. have filed a class action lawsuit they say the company violated federal securities law a lawsuit alleges that wildcat has misled investors by not disclosing that an executive in singapore was under investigation for money laundering. china's rail operators says more people have taken the train than ever before during this year's spring festival travel rush more than two hundred million passengers put the country's rail network to the test many migrant workers have travelled home for the festival which began three weeks. american whiskey makers are feeling the tremors after a major overseas markets imposed heavy duty is on their products in retaliation for

u.s. president donald trump's tariffs on elemental imports one sleeve is from candidate canada mexico mexico china and the european union took effect the collective us whiskey export fell by eight percent. unemployment in south korea is at a nine year high according to fresh government figures released today the reason another steep rise in the minimum wage in the asian. and that is well deserved apparently south koreans clock up some of the longest working hours around the world many spend up to sixty eight hours a week in the office lost some others was officially limited to fifty two hours though only for companies with more than three hundred employees but korean society is already paying a high price for this work ethic. and clark had had enough of her country's work ethic so much so that she quit her lucrative bank job and started teaching korean

instead she still puts lots of hours in but the difference is that she now has far more flexibility. i used to work at a bank as well. use it i went to work around eight am and. i never knew when i was going to finish and i never had any personal. or. private life afterward. since the one nine hundred eighty s. south korea has experienced impressive economic growth its g.d.p. has risen steadily. and that's partly due to the long working hours says christopher a cd head of n.z. bank in korea. and my experience in the corporate sector. is that koreans extremely dedicated. to work even on weekends they will spend time with

customers but the heavy workload has some clear downsides south korea's birth rate has been sinking for years it's one of the world's lowest that's a problem in a rapidly aging society there is huge pressure for the younger generation to achieve it work something university professor maria lima is very aware of and they suffer a lot their best the lives are very hard they have a hard time very nato personnel time. they're very anxious about the future future is not guaranteed at all so they don't know if they will as much as they work hard nothing's guaranteed and as the country's economy expands its suicide rate goes up too according to the world health organization south korea has one of the highest rates of suicide worldwide. and crockett any rate is relieved that she's managed to escape the clutches of her country's work ethic and go her own way.

that's it for me on the business and. for today for more business news stories you can always go to our website of course and that's d.w. dot com slash business find news and current affairs then first languages and follow facebook and twitter if you don't already do so. off next five after this quick check on global markets are much for watching business news asia.

they live like gods on the mount olympus business. the top executives. the high flyers a high finance movers and shakers. but a long move send them into freefall and then what happens when the big winners lose big who ends up paying the price. made in germany in thirty minutes on d.f.w. . it's time for berlin sixty nine film festival. we give you the lowdown on all the stars. and gossip. the late one nine hundred every day

monday the. germany state by state. the most colorful. the loveliest. the most traditional. find it all at any time. check in with a web special. take a tour of germany state by state on d w dot com. hey listen. that's what video game music sounded like thirty years ago. today's tracks take the experience to another level punk a sense to him talk composer nobuo uematsu. featured in many well known during his music is bound to give you clues bumps sounds good. video game music starts

february twenty fifth on d w. sanchez expects to call for snap elections after. he's. also on the program champions league. clubs from the english premier. league so how. will the clubs cash.

is based on the true story too.