Europe needs all of us to build its future.

Synthesis of the EEE2011

Synthesis of the Entretiens Economiques Européens

“Our conference is being held at a difficult time, when the fragility of the currency and economic imbalances are posing a very great threat to Europe’s future,” stresses Claude Fischer, president of Confrontations Europe. But she goes on to add that our ambition is commensurate with the scale of these enormous challenges. This is a view shared by Franco Bassanini, president of the Astrid Foundation, whose commitment is total. “It’s make or break time; the only solution is to get down to work,” adds Isabell Hoffmann, project manager at the Bertelsmann Foundation. The crisis has revealed the inadequacies of the European Union’s previous strategy, which was essentially based on freedom of trade, financial integration within the single market, and the coordination of national policies. The knowledge society objective has not been reached. Our financial system has proved unstable, private debt has exploded, and the system has shown many defects in terms of financing investment. The rise of public sector debt is a cause for concern and considerable economic imbalances between Member States have opened up. Although austerity policies appear necessary, we must keep deflation at bay and begin building tomorrow’s growth today, otherwise our economy will plunge into recession. “It must be our common objective to overhaul our growth strategy, to strike a new balance between competitiveness and solidarity,” summarises Claude Fischer. 

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China and us

 Confrontations Europe devoted the dinner held on 23 November 2011 to China, thus marking its wish to see the EU open its doors to the world.
China is a major strategic partner for the European Union; it is the EU’s biggest supplier, while the EU is China’s second biggest. Trade has skyrocketed but Europe’s trade deficit is deepening and, while China’s FDI is growing rapidly (+20%/year), very little of it goes to Europe, which is crying out for investments. In fact, Chinese investment accounts for only 2% of total FDI.   
The dinner debate was hosted by Francis Mer, former French Minister of Economy and Finance and president of CEFA. He invited us straight away to shift our focus back to the long term: “some centuries  promise to be terrible for some but a new beginning for others,” supporting his words with figures on China’s formidable breakthrough into the global market. His Excellency Serge Abou, the EU’s former ambassador to China, underlined the “dual fascination” of the “Chinese miracle” and of the “EU’s integration capacity,” even if the “Chinese model does have its weaknesses” (environment, quality, social issues, etc.) and the Chinese are “slightly less fascinated” with the EU at the moment because of the eurozone crisis. Nevertheless, as his Excellency Sahbi Basly, former Tunisian ambassador to China, pointed out, Europe remains an attractive model of prosperity.  
On the other hand, Jean-Paul Tchang (WST Conseil, chief editor of La Lettre de Chine) reminded us that it is still difficult to break into the Chinese market, and that China is a source of concern for Europe. Given the many internal barriers that need to be overcome, it should take China 5 to 10 years to really open up to international trade, participate in global growth and meet domestic demand. The future remains very uncertain (new generation of leaders in 2012, property bubble, etc.), and “China will perhaps be less accommodating with us.”
Under these circumstances, how do we convince Chinese companies to invest in Europe? Lu Jian is vice-president of the Europe and North America division at ZTE, one of the top players in the global telecommunications market. He reminded us that major Chinese corporations like ZTE are currently enjoying runaway success. Europe needs China, and not only to finance its debts.  We should be looking to cooperation of mutual interest and new alliances; in place of “China bashing” and “Sino-beatitude”, a new phase in Sino-European relations could open up based on the necessity of obtaining commitments and achieving concrete results from our global strategic partnership. His Excellency Anton Smitsendonk, the Netherlands former ambassador to China, has thus invited Europe to hold its rank and to work more closely with the EU’s chamber of commerce in China, promoting the idea of an education on the juridical culture of markets regulation. What is sure is that we will need to develop not only trade but also our cultural relations with China, in order to get to know the Chinese better and to learn from them.

Anne Macey, Economiste, Confrontations Europe

More information on the 2011 EEE