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Interview:There is lot space for China's contribution in Juncker plan, says member of European Parliament

Xinhua, June 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chair of the Delegation for relations with China in the European Parliament Jo Leinen has said recently that in Junker Investment Plan there is a lot of space for direct and indirect participation of Chinese companies and capitals.

The Juncker Plan is the flagship investment plan, proposed by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is supposed to unlock 315 billion euros to finance projects aimed at rejuvenating the EU's economy.

"It would be welcome if China could be a partner in the EU strategy of economic relaunch," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview ahead of the 17th China-EU leaders' meeting, which is slated for Monday in Brussels.

According to Leinen, EU and China will enhance the ties also on information and communications technology (ICT) key sector, he said: "We entered the era of a new industrial revolution, internet will change a lot of things in our economy and society and the new technologies are universal, they belong to the world. Therefore I suppose there will be a close cooperation between EU and China in the development of the respective technologies in the ICT sector."

On the role of China in the sector of telecoms in the EU, Leinen explained that telecoms is now very dynamic and there are lots of new developments on the way, China is quite advanced also in this sector so Europe should profit from Chinese technology and engagement.

Leinen also saw a partnership with China on the 5G, he explained that "China has very sophisticated laboratories, research and development centers; 5G should be a technology belonging to the world therefore a close partnership from the beginning between EU and China is the right thing to put in place."

The "Belt and Road" initiative is another occasion to foster EU-China relations, the Delegation Chair said, adding: "The Silk Road is renewing an old relationship and I think we should put in place this infrastructure project to connect China and Europe by land and sea; now we have to make it concrete."

He also hoped that the cooperation concerning the initiative will be on the agenda of the upcoming EU-China summit.

Leinen then commented on the BIT (bilateral investment treaty) between China and EU, he explained: "Bilateral trade is growing while the investments have still a lot of capacity to develop, we have to get this agreement to set the standards and the conditions to make EU companies to invest more in China and vice-versa. I'm quite optimistic that probably by the end of 2015 we could conclude the negotiations and go through ratification."

On the topics in the agreement, like public procurement, public services, banks and the financial sector; Leinen thinks that the two countries shouldn't overstretch but work step by step to overcome the difficulties in the negotiations. Endit