The European Union has the ability to resolve many of the issues that other nations are facing with the BRI. Horia Ciurtin of the European Institute of Romania states that the BRI amounts to a $3 trillion cost for China, a substantial amount that they cannot provide alone. With prominent regional nations such as Russia, Iran, and Turkey unable to provide support for the BRI, and with India and Japan unwilling to support the BRI, the EU is China’s only viable option to accomplish the initiative. Thus, China’s dependence on the EU allows the EU to hold a great amount of leverage in the scenario to make strides forward as a bloc. As European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen states, the EU’s further involvement in the BRI depends on China’s transparency in their plans, and the steps they take to ensure economic and environmental sustainability. Compliance with these measures, which have been issues for other nations as well, is the only way to gain EU trust in the initiative. Previous cooperation between the EU and China in April 2019 led to a signed Joint Statement on the implementation of EU-China Energy Cooperation, an initiative which has already led China to take steps to increase the usage and availability of renewable energy. It follows, then, that increased involvement with the BRI will lead to developments that will benefit all involved countries. Lastly, the Observer Research Foundation recognizes that China has not been able to combat US tariff measures in the past year. The EU, as one of China’s leading trade partners, can leverage this against China to increase market access, reciprocity, protection of intellectual property rights, and less discrimination against EU companies, all concerns that the EU is currently holding against China. One of the most crucial things to note is that while the BRI is coined as a Chinese initiated promise for global trade and infrastructure, China is deliberately pitting the countries in the European Union against each other. This is problematic and Euractiv media network explains why: this divide is tearing up the unity of the region. Financial Times in 2019 also notes how more than half of the EU’s 28 member states have now signed bilateral endorsements of the BRI. As the European Institute of Romania reasons that these kinds of bilateral agreements inhibit the EU’s ability to use leverage against China and at the same time expands China’s leverage over the EU.
The current economic climate in the European Union provides for a situation in which many countries cannot respond to economic crises with sufficient fiscal policy. The debt to GDP ratio in various EU countries exceeds 80%, with countries such as Italy and Greece recording ratios over 100%. These numbers account for what is the EU’s much larger issue of consistently slow economic growth. With the economy of the EU underperforming under the status quo, the BRI presents itself as the logical transition. In extensive research compiled by the World Bank, shipment times along BRI corridor economies decrease on average by 8.5% and as much as 12% and overall trade costs for member BRI countries will be reduced by as much as 3.5%, equating to hundreds of millions of dollars. European exports to regions not commonly interacted with previously, such as sub-saharan and Middle Eastern nations, will increase by as much as 8%, providing the EU with a much needed influx of wealth. The RAND Corporation corroborates these findings with qualitative analyses of their own, where they found direct correlations between implementing the BRI, and efficient regional and global production networks, increased support for regional integration, and general economic growth. One of the greatest benefits of the BRI, however, comes from the increase in foreign investment it would bring. Currently, a gap in infrastructure as well as policy along EU trade networks hinders foreign direct investment; the BRI will bridge these gaps, thereby fostering more foreign direct investment. Select USA, a partner organization of the US Department of Commerce, posits how increases in foreign direct investment results in increases in innovation, jobs, and income.
To increase the EU’s leverage in China and to greatly benefit them economically, the EU should absolutely join the Belt and Road Initiative.
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