Manfred Weber, a senior conservative in Germany and the head of the EPP center-right party in the European parliament, told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that he supported the 12-month ban. with Chinese investors who want to buy European companies.
“We have to see that Chinese companies, partly supported by state funds, are increasingly looking to acquire low-cost European companies or face economic difficulties due to the Covid-19 crisis. ”He said.
According to the official, the European Union should act in a coordinated manner and end the "Chinese shopping wave" by imposing a 12-month ban on buying European companies until the crisis. Covid-19 passed.
"We must protect ourselves," Mr. Weber emphasized.
China and Europe have launched a comprehensive investment deal talks in 2013 and have been conducting a series of negotiations since then. Key issues hindering negotiations include access to reciprocal markets and a level playing field.
European and Chinese leaders are expected to meet at a special conference next September, although it is not certain whether the conference will take place as originally planned due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We have to be alert."
"China will be our greatest opponent in the future, politically, economically and socially," Mr. Weber said. "I see China as Europe’s strategic rival when it wants to expand its power and replace the United States as the world leader."
Mr Weber said that Europe should take China seriously and respect it as a world power, "but above all we must be vigilant".
The German government last month agreed to tighten regulations to protect domestic companies from an unwanted wave of acquisitions from investors in countries other than Europe.
The move comes at a time when Germany - Europe’s largest economy in general - and the whole block in particular is reconsidering its relations with Beijing in the context of increased investment from Chinese state-owned companies. key areas.
German officials described China’s acquisition of robotics company Kuka in Bavaria in 2016 as a wake-up call to protect strategic sectors of the economy.
The efforts of China Grid Corporation in 2018 to buy a stake in the electricity grid management company 50 Hertz also worried Germany. After Berlin failed to find an alternative private investor in Europe, Germany’s state-owned bank, KfW, stepped in to push the Chinese company out of the game.
