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The Dilemma over China In December of last year, shortly before the end of Germany’s presidency of the European Council, Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed the EU Commission to sign an EU-China investment agreement. The Chancellor traditionally places great value on good relations with China. Critics scoffed, accusing Ursula von der Leyen of handing China geopolitical success on a plate.
And it is true: Beijing is not interested in the needs of Brussels. Chinese action is focussed solely on China and its aim to become the world’s number one economic power.
Romantic-sounding notions like “the new Silk Road” or “harmonious co-existence” are used to mask Beijing’s true purpose. The People’s Republic is investing in ports, roads and data highways, in Africa, south-east Asia and Europe, to secure raw materials, develop markets and expand its influence in those areas. Internal dossiers, from the German intelligence service, have warned that China is systematically making Hungary, Poland, Greece and 13 other EU Member States financially dependent on it with the aim of gaining a place at the Brussels table and getting votes in Beijing’s favour. Codeword: 16-plus-one strategy.
Europe’s economic dependence on China has also been evident during the Corona crisis. Without China’s huge sales market things would be looking gloomier in the EU, German carmakers would have to fight a lot harder and face masks would be in short supply. China recently overtook the USA as the EU’s most important trading partner.
Against this backdrop, directing words of warning at Beijing about its aggressive action against the Uighurs, Hongkong and Taiwan is like whistling in the wind.
If the EU wants to be taken seriously by China, Brussels must get relations back on the right footing. The magic words “change through trade” have not worked. China is a brutal, geopolitically and economically expansionary dictatorship. The problems that are going to arise will fundamentally determine future relations between the two economic power blocs. It certainly will not be easy. The EU Commission’s decision to put ratification of the investment agreement on ice for the time being, is the first step in the right direction.
Dr. Jörg Köpke
Head of Communications |
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| EU Measures Against Foreign Subsidies |
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| | The EU Commission wants to better tackle the negative effects of foreign subsidies in the internal market. The focus is especially on China. On Wednesday, the EU Commission will present a new regulation. The Centre for European Policy calls on Brussels to act uniformly.
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| Openness, Strenght and Resilience |
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| | Crises and ruptures are increasingly showing the European Union the limits of its own ability to act. The EU Commission is therefore striving for a more self-confident role for Europe in the world with "open strategic autonomy". The Centre for European Policy (cep) has critically analysed this plan.
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| European Front-of-pack Nutritional Labelling Scheme: How to Foster Consensus? |
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| | The European Commission wants to present a proposal for a uniform Front-of-Pack label system for food by 2022. Labels on packaging should improve the understanding of the nutritional value of industrially produced food. The dispute between supporters of different systems is making waves.
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| Emissions Trading for the Shipping Sector – Criticism of EU Plans for Unilateral Action |
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| | The European Union wants to reduce CO2 emissions in the shipping sector. Brussels plans to include unilaterally emissions of the greenhouse gas in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), probably in mid-2021. The Centre for European Policy (cep) criticises the plan as inappropriate.
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| | | “When France and Germany want, Europe can”. Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy and Finance |
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| | | “We need to remain open to global trade — which supports one in six EU jobs — but also more assertive when it comes to unfair practices from other countries.” Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission Economy and Commissioner for Trade |
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| | | "If the EU wants to act alone on climate policy, it should at least set up an emissions trading scheme for maritime transport separate from the EU ETS to avoid even greater damage to European economies." cep Chairman Prof. Dr. Lüder Gerken on climate protection in maritime transport |
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| | Corona is driving up government debt in the EU
As a result of the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, public debt levels in the EU have risen to an average of almost 100%. This has been caused by a combination of a drop in GDP and an increase in government debt due to countries’ increased financing needs.
As a consequence, in the fourth quarter of 2020, the government debt to GDP ratio rose significantly everywhere in the EU as compared with the same period in the previous year. Southern European countries, above all Greece, have come out worst, both in terms of the absolute figures and the percentage increase. With a debt to GDP ratio of just under 75%, Germany ranks centre-field; the front runner, with a ratio below 25%, is Estonia.
Source: Eurostat |
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