EU - China Roundtable

Dear Members of the EU-China Round Table,

A very warm welcome to all of you to this 18th meeting of the EU-China Civil Society Round Table.

I am particularly pleased being able to host this meeting with our Chinese friends today, as this is the first Round Table discussion during the current EESC term of office and under my presidency. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not been able to meet for the last two-and-a-half years. Our 17th meeting was in Shanghai in July 2019.

The pandemic has been a global tragedy in many ways. More than 5.2 million lives have been lost so far worldwide; people have fallen ill, suffered and been living in fear; health care workers and doctors have risked their own lives in caring for others; and many people have missed being with their relatives and friends and have felt isolated. A multitude of dreams have been shattered and plans postponed. The pandemic has had an enormous human cost worldwide.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a shocking experience for all of humanity and, as a global health emergency, has posed a huge challenge for policy-makers, national health systems and ordinary people.

Compared to the human suffering, the economic dimension of the pandemic has, of course, been secondary, albeit universal, and in some areas unprecedentedly severe. To date, COVID-19 has had a serious impact on all countries, all sectors and all socio-economic layers of society. The most significant losses are due to the recession in world trade, rising unemployment, loss of income in the global aviation sector and the adverse effect on tourism.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant economic contraction in 2020, with the EU's real GDP falling by 6.1% – more than during the global financial crisis. The EU's response to the crisis has been fast and forceful at all levels. EU Member States have provided strong support for both businesses and workers, notably through short-time work schemes, in addition to substantial liquidity support for firms. 

The European Central Bank complemented these measures with a broad set of monetary policy measures. This joint and coordinated policy response has been successful: the economic impact of the crisis on workers and firms has been less severe than originally feared. The recently established EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will contribute to recovery and growth through investment and reforms, providing more than €700 billion in non-repayable support and loans by 2026.

The EU’s long-term budget, coupled with NextGenerationEU – the temporary instrument designed to boost the recovery – will be the largest stimulus package ever financed in Europe. A total of € 2 trillion will help rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe. It will be a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe. This funding will support modernisation through research and innovation, as well as through fair climate and digital transitions.

In addition, determined and coordinated action at EU level has ensured the rapid development, procurement and distribution of vaccines. Thanks to strong policy support, an accelerated vaccine rollout and the gradual easing of pandemic-related restrictions, growth bounced back in the EU in autumn 2021. However, uncertainties remain.

Despite the favourable short-term outlook, long-term structural challenges remain, such as the impact of an ageing population. The pandemic has made many challenges more pressing and added others. For example, the additional investment needed from public and private sources to meet our climate and digital goals will be € 650 billion a year over the next decade.

As for China, the good news is that the economic recovery is on its way, and is in fact ahead of many other countries. Growth is already close to pre-pandemic levels, and the IMF forecasts growth of around 8% in 2021. China has adopted a strategy with zero-COVID tolerance, but has nevertheless not been spared localised outbreaks. In China, as in Europe, some of the biggest stumbling blocks to growth are an aging population and a slowdown in productivity growth.

These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that globalisation is under pressure: borders are being closed, air traffic and maritime shipping are hampered and supply chains are being disrupted. The shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic has indicated that the global system was not sufficiently prepared for such a situation. Some believe that the pandemic may be the last nail in the coffin for globalisation, which has in any case been slowing down for years. On the other hand, the response to the pandemic has been facilitated by digital globalisation, which has enabled teleworking and online meetings, including cross-border ones – just like this one! This change in working methods and working life will allow many people to obtain a better work-life balance.

One huge global challenge is the acceleration of climate change. The EU and China have both set ambitious targets for achieving carbon neutrality and must do their utmost to achieve them. The EU and China need to assume their responsibilities and show leadership in advancing the implementation of the Paris Agreement. We must intensify our political, technical, economic and scientific cooperation on climate change and clean energy to push ahead with a world-wide transformation into a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society. Our commitment to climate action and achieving a clean energy transition needs to be reflected in urgent measures. Unfortunately, this urgency was not fully mirrored in the compromise on the use of coal, as we read in the conclusion of the COP26 in Glasgow, where the wording calling for the "phasing out" of coal-fired power was replaced with "phasing down".

Not only does the world need to recover from the pandemic, but we must strive for a greener and more just recovery. With this in mind, cooperation between the EU and China on green investment standards has been a step in the right direction.

Concluding my comments on post-COVID economic recovery, I would like to emphasise that we at the Economic and Social Committee stress that economic recovery in Europe and elsewhere must go hand in hand with fundamental values, which include social and human rights.

I will now briefly outline the EESC's priorities vis-à-vis China and possible areas of cooperation with the China Economic and Social Council.

One of the key messages of a conference on the European Green Deal and geopolitics – organised a week ago by the EESC– is the urgent need to work together to achieve global results in a number of areas. The world is irreversibly on the path to interdependence in climate action, the energy sector, international trade and finance.

The EU's interest in Asia has recently increased and the Indo-Pacific region is becoming strategically important to the EU. China is a key part of this picture. This new emphasis is reflected in the presentation by the Commission and the High Representative of two important Joint Communications: the EU's Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Global Gateway. On the latter, the EESC will be preparing an opinion, due to be adopted next May.

As regards the European Economic and Social Committee's activities, China is increasingly present in our daily work –not just in the field of external relations, but truly across the board. Many topical issues that are of interest for both the EU and China are covered in the EESC's opinions and in our other activities: climate change, artificial intelligence, the future of trade policy, rising energy costs and access to critical raw materials, among others.

On 1 February, the EESC will be organising a conference on foresight. In that connection we already reached out to you at the China ESC, looking for a speaker who could shed light on this forward-looking and exciting area from the Chinese perspective. However, we learned that the date falls on the Chinese New Year – so we understand that on that special day you might rather want to be celebrating the start of the Year of the Tiger.

This takes me to the subject of culture as a bridge to mutual understanding. As we all well know, the culture sector and the creative industries, which employ more than 30 million people world-wide, have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. Here is one suggestion for concrete cooperation between us: The Committee could host an exhibition during my term of office as EESC President, if the China Economic and Social Council and the Mission of China to the EU were interested in supporting us in the organisation of such an event. This could be an exhibition of posters, photos or art work. All providing, of course, that the pandemic does not stand on our way. But as we say, good things come to those who wait!

I would like to take this opportunity to convey our view – also presented in the report that will be discussed today during the working session – that cooperation between the EESC members of the Round Table and the Commission and the EEAS should be strengthened. Civil society organisations representing a wide spectrum of society are present in the EESC and can contribute to the work of the Commission and the EEAS by bringing knowledge and experience from citizens' perspectives.

Last but not least: building on existing structures such as the EU-China Round Table and current bilateral dialogues is generally worthwhile. Therefore, the European Commission and the EEAS should involve the EU-China Round Table in its activities relating to civil society and make better use of its expertise. Civil society organisations should be more actively involved in future EU-China cooperation to ensure that people in general benefit from what is being done and to help decision-makers gear their policy for post-COVID-19-crisis economic recovery to areas that improve the living conditions of their citizens.

There is a proverb saying: "A path is created when you walk it." I do hope our meeting today contributes to building a path for lively cooperation, based on mutual respect, reciprocity and interest in learning from each other. I am convinced, civil society organisations can bring much value to this.

Thank you!