EU Commission Proposes New Legal Tool To Counter Economic Coercion By Third Countries

EU Commission Proposes New Legal Tool to Counter Economic Coercion by Third Countries

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday a new instrument to respond to deliberate economic pressure put on the European Union and its member states by third countries, citing specifically the Chinese-Lithuanian trade disruption amid the diplomatic row over Taiwan

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2021) The European Commission proposed on Wednesday a new instrument to respond to deliberate economic pressure put on the European Union and its member states by third countries, citing specifically the Chinese-Lithuanian trade disruption amid the diplomatic row over Taiwan.

"The European Commission has today proposed a new tool to counter the use of economic coercion by third countries. This legal instrument is in response to the EU and its Member States becoming the target of deliberate economic pressure in recent years. It strengthens the EU's toolbox and will allow the EU to better defend itself on the global stage," the Commission said in a statement.

The anti-coercion instrument is designed to prevent other countries from threatening the EU with restricting trade or investments. According to proponents of the new tool, some countries use economic coercion in order to bring about a change of the EU policy in such areas as climate change, taxation or food safety.

"We are currently facing the situation where China is restricting trade with Lithuania, cases like this clearly could be a reason to do the assessment whether this constitutes economic cohesion and correspondingly whether this instrument will be applicable in this case," Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade, said at a press conference presenting the instrument.

The proposal now needs to be agreed by the European Parliament and the European Council.

The Commission's proposal was based on the requests from several member states. It followed a joint declaration on the instrument to counteract coercive actions by third countries issued by the Commission, Parliament and Council on February 2.

The Commission is currently inquiring about complaints filed by Lithuanian firms of not being able to get customs clearance to deliver goods to China. They suspect that China has unofficially removed Lithuania from its customs system amid the deterioration of bilateral ties after Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the Lithuanian capital separately from China. The Chinese government slammed the move and downgraded diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the level of charges d'affaires.