Commissioner Barnier said that "simplification is the first priority", and said he would end the requirement for entrepreneurs to have to produce twenty different documents when bidding for a contract.

BBC: EU procurement rules to be changed

Internal ministry documents appear to show that Mr Suzuki skewed bidding requirements for aid contracts in Kunashiri, one of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, to favour companies from his own constituency.

ECONOMIST: More trouble at the foreign ministry