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The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is preparing to call for a rebalancing of relations with China that stops short of open confrontation or full decoupling.
In the upcoming paper, senior EPP lawmakers are set to argue for a general rebalancing of economic relations by making fuller use of the bloc’s existing economic leverage tools, stopping short of a full escalation, according to the early contents seen by Euronews.
The EPP is the largest and most influential political family at EU level, commanding the largest number of MEPs in the European Parliament and 14 out of the 27 commissioners in the European Commission.
Brussels has grown increasingly worried about the bloc’s economic imbalances with Beijing, with a widening trade deficit that EU officials attribute to Chinese industrial overcapacity and generous state subsidies undercutting European competitors.
The EU has set October as the deadline to secure concessions from the Chinese government, after which point the European Commission is ready to impose “harsher measures”, according to EU Trade Chief Maroš Šefčovič.
In this context, EPP MEPs sitting on the International Trade Committee are preparing a position paper due to be finalised in mid-October, on the heels of the next European Council summit.
The paper focuses on four main areas: rebalancing trade and investment, export control measures, intellectual property rights, and reform of the World Trade Organisation.
An early version argues for a balanced approach: promoting dialogue with China while more forcefully defending Europe’s economic interests, notably by using trade defence instruments more decisively and developing new tools to counter unfair competition.
At the same time, EPP lawmakers insist trade measures should be proportionate and temporary, designed to strengthen the EU’s bargaining power rather than lock in permanent protectionism.
The need to diversify supply chains and cut dependency on critical raw materials is also cited as a way to reduce China’s economic leverage, notably through the ratification and expansion of free trade agreements with partners such as Mercosur, India, Indonesia and Australia.
The paper also calls for tighter customs enforcement and closer oversight of e-commerce platforms, as the Commission plans a major reform to close the enforcement gaps that let illegal goods into the EU market.
Aviation, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology are flagged as sectors the EU should further develop to cut its economic dependence on Beijing.