The executive vice president of the European Commission in charge of Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, will travel to China next week in the framework of a European investigation into Chinese subsidies to the electric car sector, it was announced this Wednesday.
“We are open to competition, but not to unfair practices. That is why we started an investigation into electric cars coming from China,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, in a publication on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Minutes after the president of the community executive, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in her State of the European Union speech the opening of an investigation into subsidies to the electric car sector from China, the executive vice president responsible for Trade announced who will travel to the country “next week to discuss commercial and economic opportunities and challenges.”
“We want to keep the dialogue open to reduce risks, not to dissociate them,” said Valdis Dombrovskis.
Today, in her speech on the State of the Union in 2023, at the plenary session of the European Parliament, in the French city of Strasbourg, Ursula von der Leyen stressed that “competition is only true if it is fair”, pointing out that “The “World markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars.”
“This is distorting our market and since we do not accept it from within, we do not accept it from outside either, which is why I can announce today that the Commission will launch an investigation into subsidies for electric vehicles from China,” revealed the person responsible.
And he assured: “Europe is open to competition, [mas] not for a race to the bottom. We must defend ourselves against unfair practices.”
Regarding this area of electric cars, Ursula von der Leyen called it “a crucial industry for the clean economy, with enormous potential for Europe.”
In the case of Chinese support, the price of these vehicles “is kept artificially low thanks to enormous state subsidies,” criticized the leader of the community executive.
This State of the Union speech, an annual exercise that marks the beginning of the legislative year, takes place four years after the election of Von der Leyen – who began her first term at the head of the community executive in December 2019 – and less than a year before the 2024 European elections, scheduled for June.
China, which has become an economic power, has advanced a solid state investment strategy, to which the EU has responded with warnings that its cooperation between Brussels and Beijing should be governed by the principle of equity.
What is at stake are subsidies to Chinese companies that invest abroad, mainly in strategic sectors (such as energy, telecommunications and transportation), through state-owned companies that benefit from Chinese public financing, which In the case of the EU, it puts European entities at a disadvantage. .
Source: TSF
