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In recent years, relations between China and the EU have become increasingly complex and strained, especially on the issue of tariffs on electric vehicles, with Europe imposing many high tariffs on China.
Fortunately, with China's proposal, Europe has finally made concessions on the issue of electric vehicles.
But at this time, a new rift appeared within the EU, and the Netherlands government publicly applied to withdraw from EU immigration rules, and its stance on China also quietly changed.
So, what concessions has Europe made on the issue of electric vehicles? Why doesn't Netherlands want to enforce immigration rules anymore? Why did Netherlands, which has always been tough on China, suddenly change its attitude towards China?
Background and progress of the EU talks
On September 19, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao led the Chinese negotiating team to meet with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission and held talks.
At the negotiating table, the Chinese side put forward a "price commitment" proposal.
This means that when China's electric vehicles are exported to Europe, they can appropriately raise prices according to market conditions to avoid low-price competition, and the EU can also not be suppressed through tariffs.
In fact, this plan was proposed by the Chinese side a few months ago, but at that time the EU took a very tough attitude and did not give any room for maneuver.
But this time, the attitude of the European side began to loosen somewhat, and a large part of this is actually due to differences within the EU.
Take Germany, for example, Germany did not make a clear statement about the tariffs at first, after all, its local auto industry is very strong, and they have to weigh many aspects of policy.
But this summer, Germany's domestic car companies began to feel that something was wrong - the tax hike would not only hit Chinese cars, but also affect Germany's interests in the global supply chain.
Companies like BMW and Volkswagen have long been globalized, and they have a huge market share in China, and it is not cost-effective for them to raise taxes.
As a result, Germany turned from a wait-and-see to an opposition, expressing its support for free trade and lobbying the rest of the EU to follow suit.
Not only Germany, but also Spain's position has changed.
Spain was originally one of the strong supporters of the tax increase, but seeing that China is also considering countermeasures against Spain's pork and brandy products, Spain is also a little overwhelmed.
After all, pork is one of their main exports, and if the Chinese market is really restricted, the domestic economy will be under great pressure.
As a result, Spain's attitude began to loosen, and Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez even personally visited Beijing during this period to further communicate with the Chinese side.
In this way, in September, the voice of support for tax increases within the EU became less and less, and Germany, Spain, Hungary, Sweden and other countries stood up to oppose it.
In the end, the European Commission had to make concessions on the issue of China's electric vehicles and was willing to set a minimum price for Chinese electric vehicles, so the talks between China and the EU did make good progress.
Netherlands dissatisfaction with immigration policy
While the Sino-EU electric vehicle tariff negotiations were in full swing, the Netherlands was not idle.
Their government submitted an application to the EU in September to withdraw from the EU's immigration and refugee asylum rules.
This has caused quite a stir within the EU.
You must know that the EU has been very difficult in terms of migration and refugee policy in recent years, and the differences of opinion among countries have long been obvious.
The Netherlands application is a microcosm of this growing contradiction.
Netherlands Immigration Minister Faber said bluntly on social media on September 18: "The Netherlands must have more say in its asylum policy. ”
Her simple point is that Netherlands no longer wants to follow the EU's one-size-fits-all policy.
You know, the EU's immigration policy is too much pressure for a small country like Netherlands, accepting more and more refugees, and the burden on society and the economy has long been overwhelming.
For example, housing supply is outstripping, health care resources are strained, and the education system is especially stretched, and the government has to face various difficult challenges.
The Netherlands economy is already a bit tight, and since the Russian-Ukrainian war, energy prices in Europe have soared and economic growth has stagnated.
This year, Netherlands' economic growth is expected to be only 0.6%, and it has been hovering at a low level for the past few years, so Netherlands has had to apply to withdraw from the immigration policy.
However, it will not be easy for Netherlands' application to be approved, as long as one country in the EU says "no", the Netherlands' plan will be lost.
Countries such as Italy and Cyprus have long complained about refugee policy, but for various reasons, they have not yet been as openly confrontational as Netherlands.
Now that Netherlands dares to come forward, it also shows that the immigration problem has forced them to the point where they have to act.
Whether this application is successful or not, the debate over the EU's future migration policy will certainly not subside, and the Netherlands has already torn open the cracks in EU unity.
The underlying reasons for the change in Netherlands' attitude towards China
At present, Netherlands has problems in the domestic economy, and the withdrawal from immigration is not necessarily agreed, so Netherlands is now smart and has changed its previous tough attitude towards China.
As one of the world's most important semiconductor production equipment companies, Netherlands' ASML was supposed to be its economic trump card, but Netherlands' high-tech industry has also been affected by United States' restrictions on technology exports to China.
ASML was asked to restrict exports of top-of-the-line lithography equipment to China, which had a big impact on its business.
Because of this, the Netherlands was very unhappy and decided to change its attitude towards China and oppose United States policy.
In September, the Netherlands Minister of Economy visited the United States, during which the conversation was full of gunpowder.
Adrianssen directly told the US side that Netherlands companies cannot always be asked to sacrifice their economic interests to cooperate with the United States' technological blockade of China.
She made it clear that Netherlands has the right to decide who it does business with, especially with an important company like ASML, and that the Dutch side does not want to be too restricted.
Adrianssen's words were not casual.
After all, ASML's contribution to the Netherlands economy is significant, not only as one of the core of the global semiconductor equipment supply chain, but also as a result of the creation of a large number of jobs.
The Chinese market is also very important for ASML, which accounted for about 15% of its total orders this year.
Restricting exports to China means that the Netherlands themselves have to give up a large piece of the "cake", which is more than worth the loss for them.
Therefore, Netherlands has changed its previous attitude towards China, in fact, this is also a microcosm of Netherlands' change in attitude towards China.
Over the past few years, Netherlands' stance on China has oscillated between China and the United States.
But now, as economic pressures mount, Netherlands are beginning to realize that they must find a way to balance their relationship with the United States while ensuring their own economic interests.
In the future, Netherlands may continue to walk cautiously between China and the United States, but it is clearly no longer willing to follow in the footsteps of United States unconditionally.
In particular, on the issue of high-tech exports to China, Netherlands will pay more attention to its own economic interests.
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Foreign media: Netherlands applies to withdraw from EU immigration and refugee asylum rules Reference news