onsdag 5. mai 2021

EU denies it has suspended efforts to ratify China investment deal

The fate of the European Union’s investment deal with China fell further into doubt after an EU spokeswoman was forced to deny a report on Tuesday saying it had suspended the treaty’s passage to ratification. The French news agency AFP quoted EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis as saying in an interview: “We have … for the moment suspended some efforts to raise political awareness on the part of the Commission because it is clear that in the current situation, with the EU sanctions against China and the Chinese counter-sanctions, including against members of the European Parliament, the environment is not conducive to the ratification of the agreement.”

AFP’s Twitter feed used the headline “#BREAKING EU suspends efforts to ratify China investment deal: commissioner”, sparking debate among EU-China watchers, trade analysts and others on the social media network. But an EU spokeswoman said Dombrovskis’s comments had been taken out of context.