Brussels, 28/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - Reinforced by the presence of the commissioner for the commercial policy of the EU, Peter Mandelson, and those responsible for European monetary issues (EUROPE 9552), the European delegation, led by the Portuguese prime minister and president-in-exercise of the European Council, José Socrates, and the president of the Commission José Manuel Barroso, pulled no punches with the Chinese authorities at the 10th EU-China summit, which was held in Beijing on 28 November. The European leaders took the opportunity to hammer home their concerns and grievances in commercial and monetary matters. Their Chinese counterparts got the message: in a meeting behind closed doors with Mr Barroso, President Hu Jintao is believed to have given assurances that China does not favour a sizeable trade surplus with the EU and pledged that the country would work with the EU to reduce its trade surplus. Previously, at the business summit, Mr Barroso and Mr Mandelson called on China to restore the situation of competition with the EU, the former deploring the fact that Europe exports less to China than it does to Switzerland, a country of just 7 million inhabitants, the latter speaking out against the fact that the bilateral trade relationship is now “less balanced” than it was to begin with. “I have been here for five days and, in this time, this imbalance has increased by more than 2 billion euros”, stressed the trade commissioner, referring to the increase in European trade deficit. In order to plug this deficit, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jabao invited the EU to gain back some ground in the environmental field, in which China is to invest $300 billion in the next five years. Mr Wen also promised a “gradual, dynamic and reasonable” reform of the yuan exchange-rate regime, which will give the market a much greater role. After the summit, Mr Barroso and Mr Wen announced to the press that a joint working group on the exchange rate would be set up in the very near future and, from March, a high-level dialogue mechanism for commercial disputes would join it. (E.H.)