EU Policy Intelligence (March 2022) Go back »
2022-03-17 | All chapters
Collection of EU policy update from late January 2022 to 17th March 2022:
Ukraine
From 22nd February onwards, the EU has imposed a number of restrictive measures on Russia as a response to the country’s military offensive in Ukraine. The EU has also agreed to provide economic support to finance military equipment for Ukrainian forces (Council of the EU).
On 14th March, Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Alvares and Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi held a call (Spanish and Chinese read-outs).
On 8th March, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a call to discuss the situation in Ukraine (French, German and Chinese read-outs).
On 7th March, European Union High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a call to discuss the situation in Ukraine (European External Action Service and Chinese Foreign Ministry read-outs).
On 2nd March, 141 members of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted during a special emergency session of the body in favour of a resolution condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine (UN).
Yale University is compiling a list of companies that have curtailed their operations in Russia, in real time (Yale School of Management).
China
On 16th March, the European Commission countered steel subsidies resulting from export restrictions on raw materials and transnational subsidies from China (European Commission).
On 8th March, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet announced she would visit China in May 2022, and that her visit would include Xinjiang (UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner).
On 17th February, the European Union (EU) filed a case against China at the World Trade Organization for restricting EU companies from going to a foreign court to protect and use their patents (European Commission).
In the context of the Munich Security Conference on 19th and 20th February, High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell delivered a speech, warning against what he termed as Russia’s and China’s attempts to “re-define core tenets of the multilateral order” (European External Action Service). The Chinese Mission to the EU responded by claiming that the West should “reflect on its own behaviour” instead of accusing China to deflect responsibilities, and by asserting that it was important to avoid a Cold War mentality (China Mission to the EU).
On 11th February,Politico reported that the EU-China Summit set to take place on 1st April.
On 7th February, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) and the Committee on International Trade (INTA) held a public hearing on Chinese investments into the EU and FDI Screening (a replay is available on the webstreaming portal of the European Parliament).
On 28th January, the EU referred China to the WTO following trade restrictions on Lithuania (European Commission). On 10th February, SCMP reported that China had imposed further bans on Lithuanian food and beverage products. Lithuania was also a topic of discussion in an informal meeting of EU Trade Ministers that took place on the 14th and 15th February (French Presidency to the Council).
Others
On 15th March, the Council of the EU reached an agreement on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) (Council of the EU).
On 14th March, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on the draft regulation on an International Procurement Instrument (Council of the EU).
On 23rd February, the European Commission published its proposal for a directive on sustainable corporate governance, which will include provisions on mandatory due diligence across supply chains likely to have far-reaching impacts on European businesses (European Commission). The statement from BusinessEurope—one of the most influential European business associations in Brussels—on this proposal can be found here.
On 10th February, the European Commission unveiled an EUR150 million investment package for Africa under Global Gateway, the EU’s upgraded connectivity and infrastructure scheme (European Commission).
