“EU trade more and more with dictators”: two ECB economists publish a very critical ticket about the commercial relations of the Union

The European Union trade is increasingly with the autocratic schemes and participates in the financing of its expansionist strategy at the expense of the twenty -seven group interest, according to a Blog post of the European Central Bank (ECB), published on Tuesday, July 8.

The EU has been proud to seek an economic policy and commercial relations based on human rights values, social justice or even respect for the environment.

A business that generates profits for dictators

But the reality is quite different and the trade carried out with autocratic regimes has increased regularly from 1999 until the EU imposes generalized sanctions to Russia after its attack on Ukraine, according to the publication of the blog written by ECB economists Claudia Marchaini and Alexander Popov.

“Our conclusions show that, despite their promises, the EU trade more and more with countries led by autocrats and dictators,” we can read in this blog post, which does not reflect the point of view of the ECB. “This trend has only recently interrupted,” they add.

However, the EU has resorted to imports from less democratic countries and partners in which conditions have deteriorated. “Commerce with dictators is equivalent to generating profits for regimes that often have an explicit expansionist and militaristic program. In the end, this can potentially become an existential challenge for the EU,” he explains to economists, which specifies that the analysis is even eliminating China from the data.

Rare land of autocratic regimes

The authors also dispute a decrease in democracy in general in the world, saying that the medium country outside the EU has become more democratic. Another important problem indicated by economists: many key resources necessary for the EU green transition are in countries led by autocrats.

“Our results suggest an associated commitment to the green transition. Current current technologies without carbon are based on a series of rare earth materials that are generally found in countries with autocratic diet,” summary.