EFE.- The European Union (EU) and China plan to conclude on Wednesday the negotiations of their investment agreement that will offer European companies greater access to the Chinese market and guarantees to compete on equal terms with companies from the Asian giant.
It is planned, according to European sources, that tomorrow the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the Chinese Prime Minister, Xi Jinping, and the German Chancellor will meet by videoconference, Angela Merkel to politically seal the deal. It is not ruled out that the French head of state, Emmanuel Macron, will also join.
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Since they began in 2014, the negotiations have seen ups and downs, but have accelerated in recent weeks, after China offered a level of access to its market acceptable to the 27 in December and pledged to advance the ratification of the conventions. of the International Labor Organization (ILO), including those relating to forced labor.
The agreement is an important step in relations between the EU and China and will make it possible to alleviate some of the imbalances that exist today in terms of foreign direct investment, since the European market is much more open than the Chinese.
The agreement will be sealed politically tomorrow, but it will take several months for it to be signed and then come into force, as it will first have to be translated into the 24 official languages of the EU and get the final go-ahead from legal experts.
The agreement in principle will come in full political transition in the United States, between the end of the term of President Donald Trump – whose administration has been characterized by trade disputes with China and, to a lesser extent, the EU – and the inauguration of Joe Biden, next January 20.
And the rapprochement between the Twenty-Seven and China has already generated reactions in the team of the next occupant of the White House.
“The Biden-Harris administration would welcome early consultations with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices,” Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter last week after learning that a deal was close.
In 2019 – the last year before the outbreak of the pandemic in which economic relations were not affected by the virus – direct foreign investment from the EU to China was 12,000 million dollars (about 9,800 million euros), which was an increase of 70% compared to 2018, according to data provided by the European Commission.
The Netherlands was the largest investor in China, with 4.7 billion dollars (about 3.8 billion euros), and the EU investment in China was mainly in the automotive sector, worth 4.9 billion dollars (about 4 billion euros). euros).
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On the other hand, China’s investment in the EU was 13,000 million dollars (approximately 10,600 million euros), which represented a decrease of 21,000 million dollars (about 17,100 million euros), in 2018.
Finland was the main recipient of the investment, worth 5.3 billion dollars (about 4.3 billion euros) and in general, in the EU, Chinese investment went to the sector of consumer products and services.
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