Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Macron’s investment screening idea watered down by leaders

EU leaders were divided Friday (24 June) on proposals to protect strategic sectors in Europe by giving the European Commission more powers to screen foreign investments.

French president Emmanuel Macron, supported by Germany and Italy, proposed to have the European Commission examine ways to screen third country investments into strategic sectors in Europe, but failed to gather enough support at his first summit.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"Fairer trade is preferable than the law of the jungle,” Macron said after the summit at a joint press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The leaders decided to return to the issue at a later summit, and instead watered down the language in their summit conclusions.

They called on the Commission to “analyse" foreign investments in strategic sectors, while member states would still make the decision on those investments.

European Council chief Donald Tusk said the government and state heads engaged in a "long debate on the balance between openness and protectionism” in trade.

"Europe needs to better protect people from unfair trade practices by introducing more reciprocity,” he said, confirming that the commission will analyse investments if needed.

"We agreed that we would explore a new mechanism, whereby the Commission might screen such investments to ensure that it doesn't have those negative strategic consequences for Europe,” Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar told journalists after the summit on Friday.

But it is unclear how that new analysis mechanism would work in practice.

Trojan horse for protectionism

Sweden, the Netherlands, Malta, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland and others raised concerns over Macron's proposal, fearing it would be interpreted as a sign of protectionism in a time when Europe wants to reinforce its trade policy.

Varadkar said “trading nations”, the Nordics and the Benelux countries want to avoid "any effort to use this proposal as a Trojan horse for protectionism".

The measure, however, is mostly aimed at China, although it was not mentioned by name in the conclusions, which has been pushing to buy European high-tech companies and businesses with valuable and unique intellectual property.

In Germany, for example, a recent acquisition of a leading robot-maker Kuka by Chinese firm Midea has caused concern.

EU leaders urged EU institutions to swiftly implement anti-dumping measures, currently still under negotiation, to counter Chinese imports.

They also urged the EU executive to come up with ways to "enhance reciprocity" in public procurement and investment.

"Reciprocity is the right way. If we have, for example, access to public contracts in the United States, then we can say 'yes' to access to public contracts in Europe. But if full access was denied then Europe needed an answer," German chancellor Merkel said on Friday.

Since the election of protectionist US president Donald Trump, the EU has been trying to speed up trade talks, particularly with Japan and Mexico, and emphasise that the bloc is open for business.

EU-China united on climate, divided on trade

Within 24 hours of Trump announcing that the US will pull out of the Paris climate accord, EU and Chinese leaders presented a united front on fighting climate change. But divergence on trade plagues the new alliance.

EU and China move to fill US void

At a summit in Brussels, EU and Chinese leaders will attempt to deepen ties on trade and climate as US president Trump plans to pull out of the Paris climate deal.

EU preparing to screen Chinese investments

The EU is to screen foreign investments to avoid takeovers in sensitive sectors. But the plan, mainly aimed at China, will raise political and technical difficulties.

EU commission changes gear on trade

The EU executive seeks new deals with Australia and New Zealand, while aiming to overhaul the global investment protection system. It also wants to screen foreign investments.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us