The “Geopolitical” Committee was one of Ursula von der Lein’s commitments when he took charge of the European Commission more than two years ago. So far, its record has been mixed: from Afghanistan to Okus, it is difficult to prove that the EU’s diplomatic power is stronger than before.
Successive committees have ignored the economic diplomacy of the European Union. At the same time, infrastructure projects funded by China and Russia have emerged in Serbia and several other Western Balkan countries in recent years.
In Africa, where the EU has always considered itself a major partner, a large number of public works and transportation projects funded by Beijing have given China greater political and economic influence over the past decade.
Not to mention the huge amount of money China has injected into Central Asia and Eastern Europe in the “One Belt, One Road” plan.
In this process, the European Union was further diverted to a low level, and now Japan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and India all want to increase their market share.
The EU may be a little late, but as of this week, it has at least its own investment plan. It is called the global gateway and has 300 billion euros of funding to fund infrastructure, digital and climate projects that will “strengthen Europe’s supply chain, promote EU trade and help combat climate change.”
These are a reasonable set of priorities. Digital, climate change and environment-related projects, as well as funding for medical and health projects in developing countries, are closely related to the EU’s long-term political goals.
The problem is, although 300 billion euros sounds like a lot, we cannot measure this number at face value. The European Commission stated that the “European team” means that EU institutions and member states will “mobilize up to 300 billion euros in investment”.
A closer look at the details reveals that 18 billion euros will come from the EU budget, which is less than 3 billion euros per year on average.
The committee hopes that the rest will be resolved by member states and the private sector. Compared with Morgan Stanley’s estimate of the US$1.3 trillion that China will invest in the “Belt and Road” project by 2027, the global gateway looks like a little potato.
Instead, the plan will “connect institutions and investment, banks and business,” Von der Lein said.
In other words, the committee hopes that the European Investment Bank and development financial institutions can generate most of the loans on the basis of a small amount of seed capital.
This is the method of the past ten years. If the EU really wants to compete with Beijing in overseas investment, it needs to show greater ambition and more cash.
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Summary
The Greek Socialist Party (Movement of Change – Pasok) held a primary election on December 5 to elect the next leader. The result of the vote is likely to determine whether the next Greek coalition government will lean to the left or to the right.
Listen to the opinions of EU policymakers and you will be convinced The electric vehicle revolution is advancing steadily.
Under the Ministry of Finance led by the Liberal Party, Germany will take a tough stance on EU fiscal policy and reject calls from southern EU countries to relax fiscal rulesHowever, a business-friendly FDP can be compromised. EURACTIV Germany report.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been closely monitoring the progress of the upcoming European digital regulations because EU policymakers are trying to find the right balance between protecting consumers, supporting innovation and ensuring a level playing field.
The three parties in the next government of Germany have clearly expressed their hope Let the next few years be the decade of future investment. However, where Where the resources for this type of investment will come from remains unclear. EURACTIV report in Germany.
The European Commission’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) issued a report Friday (December 3) After Zagreb tried to stop the agency’s work, it described in detail the Croatian police’s border violence against immigrants transiting from Bosnia..
In the increasingly tense situation, China prohibits Lithuanian products from entering the Chinese market, according to Lithuanian Media Thursday (December 2nd). The European Commission said it is collecting information and will re-discuss the matter later.
On the other side of the English Channel, it’s not just about Brexit, because England is Ready to meet another severe challenge In the next few months: build a complete plasma supply chain from the ground up.
French President Emmanuel Macron (Emmanuel Macron) said in a speech to the European Regional Council on Wednesday that he is in favor of “including nuclear power in the green finance taxonomy.”
Regulations on the time and conditions of animal transportation Needs to be stricter, After discovering many violations of existing animal welfare rules, members of the European Parliament said in a special committee of the parliament.
Like every Friday, click on our Introduction to numbers Weekly news summary.
Pay close attention, watch out, watch out…
- The Council of the European Parliament meets on Monday (November 6).
- Monday (November 6) Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Committee.
The opinions are those of the author.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
