European Commission Executive Vice President Dombrovskis told AFP on May 4 that the Commission has temporarily shelved its efforts to ratify an investment agreement with China. “Because it is clear that in the current situation, with the EU sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party’s counter-sanctions, including against members of the European Parliament, the environment is not conducive to the ratification of the agreement.”
International media sources say the deal has been frozen, with members of the European Parliament vowing never to ratify it because of the Communist Party’s sanctions against European officials and academics.
The European Commission had been highly defensive of the agreement in principle reached late last year, but Dombrovskis comments are the clearest signal yet that the senior EU official has also taken note of the rapidly deteriorating political climate of the past four months. They abandoned the deal despite intense pressure from Germany to complete it.
Asked if the deal would go ahead, a spokesman for Dombrovskis said that the technical aspects, such as legal aspects, were still in progress, but on the issue of political ratification, he said : “We are not there yet.”
The spokesman said, “The agreement now needs to be legally reviewed before it can be submitted for adoption and approval. However, the ratification process (of the investment agreement) cannot be divorced from the evolving nature of the broader European-Chinese relationship.”
“In this context, it is unacceptable and regrettable that the CCP is imposing retaliatory sanctions against members of the European Parliament and the entire parliamentary committee. The prospect of ratification of the agreement will depend on how the situation evolves.”
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