The excessive dependence that the European Union has woven with Russia has many interpretations. Since it invaded Ukraine, the European bloc has been trying to flee from Moscow, betting on finding other alliances, but without repeating the same mistakes with another giant like China. For this reason, the European Commission has presented a plan on Tuesday in which it wants to limit investment to European companies in key sectors, such as semiconductors or quantum computing in countries considered “hostile”.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, explained that it is about ensuring that “the knowledge and research” of European companies is not used to “boost” the military capabilities of “hostile” countries. The plan, although it does not explicitly mention China or Russia, is a strategy especially focused on these countries.
Brussels proposes that a risk analysis be carried out on these investments based on the impact on the supply chains for critical infrastructures, for the leakage of technology and if there is a risk of sanctions being applied by third parties to put pressure on the EU. In this sense, the vice-president in charge of Competition, Margarethe Vestager, explained that in this investment analysis there will be “a geopolitical filter”. “The obvious candidates are Russia and China,” she has admitted.
The investment limitation would focus on technologies such as supercomputers, artificial intelligence, robotics or semiconductors, although the European Commission is now opening a process to study the plan with European countries and with the private sector to prepare a law that it hopes to propose before of ending the year. In it, it is expected that it will detail what this instrument will be like.
However, in the delicate balance that Brussels always tries to maintain with China, Von der Leyen has advanced that the new plan will not affect all sectors, but “a small set of cutting-edge technologies”. For his part, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has denied that it is a protectionist measure that limits investment beyond European borders. “We do not want to limit the development and prosperity of other countries, but we must be equipped to protect our economic security and interest,” he defended.
Brussels argues that the new plan will also help boost its own strategic autonomy and reduce dependencies. The European Union needs more than 95% of China to import its lithium —determinant for electric car batteries— German policy has assured. For this reason, he is now looking at other countries, such as Chile or Argentina (countries to which Von der Leyen traveled last week) and which, together with Bolivia and Peru, concentrate almost 75% of the lithium reserves and represent almost half of the global supply. .
Likewise, the plan also studies the control of certain exports, such as material that may have a double civil and military use, among which espionage systems could be included, and that could be used by countries that violate human rights and “threaten peace.” international and security.
The strategy is expected to be a basis for the discussion of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union at the summit next week in which they will address relations with China.
