Emanuele Scimia

Opinion | How EV tariffs broke EU consensus and China’s ‘divide and rule’ plan

Beijing might have successfully split France and Germany, but the actions of Greece and Serbia show the limits of its plans in Europe

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Vehicles queue near the EU headquarters in Brussels on October 4. The European Commission has voted to impose tariffs on EVs manufactured in China, with only five member nations voting against the plan. Photo: Xinhua

Emanuele Scimia

Published: 5:30am, 13 Oct 2024

China’s “divide and rule” approach to the European Union suffered a heavy blow after a vote by member states on October 4 allowed the European Commission to move forward with applying tariffs of up to 45 per cent on electric vehicles (EVs) produced in China.

The political pressure applied by Beijing managed to break the consensus within the EU and also succeeded in driving a wedge between Germany and France, the two powers at the core of the European economy. However, it failed to muster enough support to block action on the commission’s anti-subsidy investigation.

According to reports, 10 countries voted in support of tariffs while five voted against and 12 chose to abstain. To derail the proposal, opponents needed a qualified majority of 15 votes, representing 65 per cent of the bloc’s population.

Germany voted against the proposal while France voted in favour. Berlin and Paris have long been China’s principal interlocutors in Europe, but gauging Beijing’s apparent waning allure across the continent requires looking to a smaller EU member: Greece.

Greece was one of the 12 countries abstaining from the vote on tariffs. This could be seen as Athens offering de facto support for the tariffs while also trying to defuse anger and possible economic retaliation from China.

Greece has benefited from Chinese infrastructure investment under the Belt and Road Initiative. Notably, China’s Cosco Shipping Group has a 67 per cent stake in the Piraeus Port Authority and has run the operations of the Mediterranean facility – Europe’s fourth-largest container port – since 2016.

A Cosco Shipping vessel approaches the Port of Piraeus in Athens, Greece, in February 2019. Photo: Xinhua