EU member states gave political backing to Brussels’ planned investment pact with China on December 28, clearing the way for a deal between the world’s biggest economic blocs.
At a meeting of ambassadors, the German EU presidency noted that no member had “raised a stop sign and the way for a political endorsement was thus cleared”, a diplomat said.
This came after the Chinese foreign ministry said last week that “negotiations have entered the final stretch” – and a second EU diplomat said an agreement could now be formally announced this week.
The senior envoy said: “We have to be careful, but as long as China is in agreement, there could be an official announcement from Brussels and Beijing by the end of the week.”
No member state intervened at the meeting to block the accord, but afterwards Poland’s ambassador Andrzej Sados said he had “expressed our doubts” after Germany added it to the agenda.
The deal would be a major boost for both sides and strengthen economic ties between the giants before the arrival of US president-elect Joe Biden in the White House next month.
Outgoing US leader Donald Trump has engaged in a trade war with China but his successor has also expressed concern about the EU outreach, with his team urging Brussels to consult with Washington.
Sados told the Polish PAP news agency: “The new administration in the US is starting work in three weeks . . . and an agreement with China should take into account the EU’s relations with the US.
“We also said that we shouldn’t act too hastily after seven years of tough negotiations. Meanwhile, such an item is suddenly added to the EU ambassadors’ meeting agenda in Brussels. This is unheard of.
“In the last days of the German presidency we are dealing with a sudden and unjustified acceleration regarding a very important issue, which concerns international relations.”
The bloc’s leading economic power Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of this year, has made securing the deal a priority of its time at the helm.
The European Commission, the EU executive, had said before Christmas that the draft of the “political agreement” was “95 per cent ready” and just needed the capitals’ green light.
Europe has long sought greater access to the huge Chinese market for its companies.
The head of the EU chamber of commerce in Beijing Joerg Wuttke earlier this month said negotiators had “apparently made great strides on market access”.
While Trump’s administration has engaged in a war of words with Beijing, Brussels has taken a balanced approach.
Berlin wanted to get the agreement signed off at a joint EU-China summit in September, but the coronavirus pushed the event online and no deal was signed.
China pushed past the US in the third quarter of this year to become the EU’s top trade partner, as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the US economy while Chinese activity rebounded.