The French Presidency defended the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, on Monday 18 January, despite criticism from both sides of the Union. Paris assured that China’s human rights commitments would be “very scrupulously verified”.
China has committed itself to ratifying the core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), particularly on forced labour (see EUROPE 12628/7), but there are many voices expressing a contrary view. MEP Bernard Guetta (Renew Europe, France), affiliated to the same party as the French President, published an op-ed in Libération to express his categorical refusal to see the agreement ratified. Among the reasons, he mentions a still too weak opening of the Chinese market or a “cynical hypocrisy” with regard to human rights: “Either we wait for China to sign and ratify these conventions before signing new trade agreements with them, or, whole other attitude, we definitively renounce the link between trade and respect for fundamental rights”.
MEP Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA), Chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China, also said that access to the Chinese market is still too limited under the terms of the agreement. The guarantees in terms of worker protection are also far too weak, he said. “The deal falls short of a request that the European Parliament made (December 2020) regarding the prevention of forced labour. I wonder why the Commission did not take that more seriously”, he told EUROPE. The Parliament had called for sanctions against China by voting a resolution on the arbitrary mass detention of Uighurs and Kazakhs in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (see EUROPE 12625/20).
Reinhard Bütikofer and Bernard Guetta were joined in these arguments by their French colleague from the Left group Emmanuel Maurel, who said he does not believe, under any circumstances, in China's promises to respect its commitments, both in terms of respect for workers and trade rules.
On the right, on the other hand, María Spyráki (EPP, Greece), Vice-President of the Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China, says that the arbitration instruments provided for in the agreement will be able to enforce the commitments made and ensure fair competition. “From the information available, I think it’s a good deal. It is high time to establish reciprocity between the EU and China”, she told EUROPE.
The full text of the agreement between the European Commission and China has not yet been published and the ratification process by the European Parliament is not expected before the second half of 2021. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)