{"id":457129,"date":"2026-06-17T16:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/17\/lue-preoccupata-da-pechino-weber-ppe-riflettere-con-gli-usa-sulla-risposta-alla-cina\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T16:43:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:43:24","slug":"eu-concerned-about-beijing-weber-epp-we-need-to-discuss-with-the-us-how-to-respond-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/17\/eu-concerned-about-beijing-weber-epp-we-need-to-discuss-with-the-us-how-to-respond-to-china\/","title":{"rendered":"EU concerned about Beijing, Weber (EPP): “We need to discuss with the US how to respond to China”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strasbourg, by our correspondent<\/em> – How can we balance the need to engage with a global power such as China with the defence of the EU-27\u2019s economic sovereignty and the competitiveness of the single market?<\/strong> Europe\u2019s relationship with Beijing was at the heart of the debate that opened today\u2019s (17 June) proceedings in the European Parliament, which is holding its plenary session in Strasbourg from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 June. <\/p>\n

The discussion, which is central to tomorrow\u2019s and Friday\u2019s European Council meeting in Brussels, was opened by Marilena Raouna<\/strong>, the Cypriot Minister for European Affairs, who reiterated the EU\u2019s position and the Member States\u2019 willingness to engage in dialogue: \u201cAs far as China is concerned, our approach remains one of engagement and dialogue<\/strong>,\u201d adding that the aim is \u201cto pursue a policy of de-risking, not decoupling<\/strong>.\u201d The best solution for the current EU Council presidency is, therefore, to reduce Europe\u2019s strategic dependencies without going so far as to sever ties with China entirely. Complete independence from Chinese resources is deemed \u201cneither desirable nor realistic\u201d by the Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d<\/strong>, who, on behalf of the entire Commission, emphasised the need for a \u201cdecisive rebalancing\u201d and transparency: \u201cOur trade and investment relationship must be reciprocal, fairer and based on a level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while it is true that no one wishes to sever ties with the Asian giant entirely, the atmosphere of tension and concern in the face of the rise and dominance of the People\u2019s Republic of China is equally evident. \u201cAt the moment, we have a trade deficit with China amounting to \u20ac1 billion a day. This is simply unacceptable<\/strong>,” declared in the chamber a concerned Manfred Weber<\/strong>, chair of the European People\u2019s Party group, urging Europe not to be naive: \u201cChina is flooding European markets with its excess production capacity. This must stop,\u201d and \u201cwe need a level playing field, in accordance with WTO rules.\u201d Indeed, \u201cwe must tell the Chinese that subsidies are not part of fair trade,\u201d he added, while also calling for clarity regarding European sovereignty over critical networks. Therefore, according to Weber, \u201cthe development of the 6G network in Europe should be exclusively a European network\u201d to ensure technological sovereignty. The EPP president believes the EU should act in concert with the US. \u201cYesterday we voted on the agreement with the US on tariffs. We now have clarity and predictability for our activities. This is also an opportunity to make a fresh start, and the G7 summit in Evian offers us the chance to revive that kind of economic and NATO thinking. And together with the Americans, we should reflect on how to respond to the Chinese economic model<\/strong>,\u201d he urged. <\/p>\n

In the same vein of firmness, the MEP from Fratelli d\u2019Italia, co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, Nicola Procaccini<\/strong>, who criticised the bureaucratic approach, pointing out that competitiveness \u201cis built on the ground\u201d and that Europe must respond \u201cresolutely to unfair competition and the complete lack of reciprocity that threatens to undermine our industrial base<\/strong>.\u201d <\/p>\n

The warning against the risk of Europe being crushed between the two blocs\u2014Western and Eastern\u2014came from within the ranks of Renew Europe, voiced by the group\u2019s chair, the Frenchwoman Val\u00e9rie Hayer<\/strong>. \u201cWe are in the midst of a Cold War: China and the United States are vying for global power, and Europe must not align itself with either of these powers<\/strong>,\u201d she stated. \u201cFirstly, we must no longer be complacent servants. We must cooperate with China and the United States. Yes, we must trade with them. Yes, we must defend our common interests, such as those relating to rare-earth metals. But we must never be under their control, neither today nor tomorrow,\u201d she specified. This view was criticised by Iratxe Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez<\/strong>, chair of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, who accused it of \u201cexcessive\u201d simplification of reality: \u201cAny citizen might think that China is bad and the United States is good, but the world is much more complex\u201d<\/strong>. According to the socialist leader, \u201cwe must understand that foreign relations, trade and economic exchanges are far more complex than this simplistic message suggests\u201d and \u201cwe must take the issue of European sovereignty and the key role it plays in a challenging world seriously.\u201d <\/p>\n

Finally, Terry Reintke,<\/strong> co-chair of the Greens<\/strong>, reminded the House that the climate challenge is a cornerstone of geopolitical resistance: \u201cIf Europe wants to be a global player and stand up to autocracies around the world, including China, we must become world leaders in this green future<\/strong>.\u201d <\/p>\n

For the Commission, unity is the only way forward<\/strong>: <\/strong>in his closing remarks during the plenary debate, \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d took on board the various calls from MEPs, reiterating a key concept for the summit of heads of state: \u201cUnity is our most precious asset, and in this particular case it is even more important.\u201d Tomorrow, the ball will be in the court of the European Council leaders, who will have to turn these and other views into a common strategy towards Beijing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weber (EPP): \u201cThe trade deficit is unacceptable.\u201d Hayer (Renew Europe): \u201cWe are in the midst of a Cold War: China and the United States are vying for global power, and Europe must not align itself with either of these powers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7901,"featured_media":457081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26324,25916,26339,27335,26739,34504,31814,33394,34505],"class_list":["post-457129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-cina-en","tag-eurocamera-en","tag-council-en","tag-parliament-en","tag-pechino","tag-reciprocita-en","tag-ue","tag-weber"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457130,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457129\/revisions\/457130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}