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The EU is to pursue more subsidy investigations against foreign companies investing in the bloc as it steps up efforts to combat what it sees as unfair competition, its antitrust chief has said.
Although not specifically aimed at China, the EU’s foreign subsidies regulation, which came into force in 2023, has been used to target many Chinese companies amid growing concern that oversupply by the world’s largest manufacturer is jeopardising European industry.
Asked whether there would be more such probes under the regulation, Teresa Ribera, EU executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, said: “Of course.”
Ribera said she expected sectors in which there was increasing foreign interest in investing to come under scrutiny. “There is a broad spectrum of those sectors where there is interest to invest in Europe — basic industries [and] modern industries; chemicals, pharma, cars and batteries,” she told the Financial Times.
The foreign subsidy regulation (FSR) allows Brussels to block companies subsidised by foreign governments from public procurement, mergers and acquisitions and even selling goods and services into the single market.
The EU has used it to investigate Chinese companies bidding for public tenders in Europe ranging from electric-vehicle maker BYD and a state-owned train maker to a solar panel company and its government-owned partner.
The EU has also launched “ex officio” investigations under the FSR into a Chinese security scanner maker and Chinese wind turbine sales.
Ribera is in Beijing to co-chair the Sixth EU-China High Level Environment and Climate Dialogue with China’s vice-premier Ding Xuexiang on Monday and for other meetings to discuss the green transition and EU-China co-operation.
Her visit comes ahead of a summit scheduled for late July between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese President Xi Jinping to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations. The planned meeting comes amid trade tensions and EU anger over China’s continued support for Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ribera said the intention behind the foreign subsidies regulation was that companies investing in the EU should add value and foster talent and innovation in the bloc.
She pointed to Beijing’s example in the past of demanding that companies investing in China do so through joint ventures and introduce technology to the market.
The idea could be “to develop these types of joint ventures, also in Europe, but without risking getting trapped in a context where innovation and knowledge may be absent and we could only get products to the markets”.
Brussels has also begun to increase “Buy European” provisions in its legislation in an effort to boost the bloc’s markets.
On climate talks, Ribera said that with the US abandoning the Paris climate accord and turning away from multilateralism, it was important for other countries to renew their commitment to the process.
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The Financial Times reported last week that European officials were pushing back against Chinese overtures for a joint declaration on climate action at the upcoming leaders’ summit unless Beijing pledged to make greater commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite these points of tension, Ribera said she saw room for the sides to continue talking.
“I think that the Chinese government feels that, to a certain extent, the Paris Agreement is part of their legacy in the international context, in the multilateralism landscape. So that eases the conversation,” she said.
That did not mean the EU and China could agree on everything, she added, but “it keeps the door open to explore . . . how much we can achieve in that context”.