China’s “New Silk Road” is challenging the EU – and now the confederation is reacting, more forcefully than recently expected.
(Photo: dpa)
Brussels With an investment program of up to 300 billion euros, the EU wants to promote the construction of modern infrastructure in emerging and developing countries. The project is considered a key EU initiative in the systemic competition with China and is the result of years of consultations between the Commission and member states.
The strategy is to be officially presented on Wednesday. The final version is available from the Handelsblatt. The sum is planned to be significantly higher until the end and a sign of how important the project of EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is.
It is the declared aim of the Commission to strengthen Europe’s political and economic influence worldwide. European companies can hope for lucrative contracts.
In the very first sentence, the Commission makes it clear that Global Gateway, as the initiative is called, is an instrument for the EU’s geopolitical self-assertion and was conceived with a view to the rivalry with authoritarian systems: “Strong democracies, and the values they underpin, must provide an answer to today’s global challenges, ”writes the EU.
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One of the most important of these challenges is the urgent need for modern infrastructure: in many countries there is a lack of train lines and roads, power lines and fiber optic cables that are necessary to get connected to the world market. Against the background of the necessary adaptations to climate change, the EU sees a global investment gap of 1.3 trillion euros per year.
With Global Gateway, Europe now wants to help reduce this gap. The 300 billion euros are to flow in the period between 2021 and 2027. To this end, various programs from the EU budget are being tapped and leveraged, including with the help of the European Investment Bank.
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