Brussels, 03/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with the German economic daily, Handelsblatt, which finds considerable resonance in the European press, Antonio Tajani, the vice-president of the European Commission responsible inter alia for industry, denounces the risk entailed by China's acquisition of European high-tech companies, and recommends the creation of a European control body. Tajani's comments came up against those attributed to the Chinese authorities, who are said to be seeking to purchase securities issued by eurozone countries in difficulty (Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and others), mirroring the way it bought up a large part of the American debt.
The Belgian daily, “Le Soir”, believes Tajani has the merit of having broken a taboo by stating that the Union must protect its strategic sectors. It reports: “Chinese companies with the means to do so are increasingly buying up European companies with key technology in major sectors. This is investment but, behind this, there is also a strategic policy, to which Europe must provide a political response”. Hence the proposal to set up an authority responsible for examining foreign investment in the European Union and determining whether buying out companies with assets of know-how is a “danger”.
Le Soir writes that, when Beijing, which owns the largest exchange reserves in the world ($2.648 billion), suggests supporting eurozone countries in difficulty, China “is not being philanthropic because supporting the euro means supporting one of its main markets, and, as we know, in supporting the euro, Beijing prefers to see a strong euro”.
Antoni Tajani's statement also attracted Le Monde's interest. This French daily reports that the Commission vice-president is taking the side of industry, and calls on the EU to protect its strategic sectors. The control body suggested would not be the first of its kind in the western world as such a body has existed in the United States since 1975, and was placed under direct control of the White House in 1988 by a very liberal president, Ronald Reagan. Nonetheless, Tajani's remarks did not receive unanimous approval. For example, the German minister for the economy and technology, Rainer Brüderle, expressed concern, calling on Europeans not to take “hasty measures” in this field. (Gp/transl.jl)