MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport debated, on Thursday 2 March, Chinese investment in European ports. During the exchanges, the majority of the European Parliament’s political groups insisted on the need to have a global and European strategy for port activities.
“Our ports are strategic, they are the gateway to the EU. However, the keys are increasingly being handed over to foreign companies. There are 22 European ports with a Chinese presence. As EPP we have submitted a letter to the Commission, because instruments are not enough, we need a strategy for European ports, to be transparent and to limit foreign influence”, said Tom Berendsen (EPP, Dutch).
In addition, the MEP also called for an “appropriate” framework for investors. “We want EU ports to be competitive without depending on foreign investment”, he concluded.
For others, following the example of Dominique Riquet (Renew Europe, French), the Commission should propose a text specifically for port control with regard to sovereignty.
“There is a big difference in tone between the Commission, which talks about ‘business as usual’, and a real problem of sovereignty and security. In how many ports is there an equity investment by a European company in China? How many European companies did the US tolerate in its ports? Zero, in both cases”, said Mr Riquet.
On the S&D side, the reading is the same. “Instruments are not enough. There is talk of the fight against corruption, important instruments, but the EU must wake up and stop being naive. We need a strategy, we have known for years that the Chinese are very ambitious when it comes to having access to our infrastructures. We have no strategy to keep the infrastructure to ourselves”, judged Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgian). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)