Let Europe act in Europe’s interest!

The European Parliament debated EU-China relations in its plenary session today. During the debate, Fidesz MEP Enikő Győri said that “Europe should pursue its own interests, create opportunities for European firms and companies, and help them to become more competitive. This is the only way to maintain the European welfare state model”. 

The MEP pointed out that “Europe is an open economy, the second trading power in the world. It is not in its interest to divide the world into good and bad. We should not look at who are our potential enemies, but who are our potential partners. This does not mean recognising China as a civil democracy. We simply respect the realities because, since 2021, China has been Europe’s biggest trading partner: our trade in goods exceeds €2.3 billion a day. Our renewable and high-tech industries would not survive without Chinese raw materials”. 

“Instead of cutting ourselves off from China, we should be thinking about how to balance our trade deficit. This is what the Investment Protection Agreement, signed by Angela Merkel in 2021, would have done: it would have created a more level playing field for European firms. For political reasons, the ratification process was never launched. The Commission, while welcoming it at the time, no longer sees it as economically beneficial. I wonder why?”

“We should pursue a pragmatic, non-ideological policy towards China, focused on the interests of European companies, because this is in Europe’s interest”, MEP Enikő Győri pointed out.