FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
EU Commission Announces Anti-Chinese New Silk Road Plan
Oct. 2, 2018 (EIRNS)—In its attempt to counter China’s advances in Europe’s east and southeast, the European Commission is making big announcements about its plan, “Connecting Europe and Asia—Foundations for an EU Strategy.” The Eurocrats want to spend €123 billion for (non-Chinese) projects in eastern and southeastern Europe in the 2021-2027 period. It is, however, dubious that the promised funds will ever arrive there: Already now, €270 billion are sitting in a pile in Brussels, unused funds for projects never started, never planned.
The main reason is that such projects only exist as announcements on paper, or the recipient country does not have the required matching funds to apply for the money from Brussels. Furthermore, recipient governments are still obliged under EU law not to go into new debt with their national budgets, but to observe strict austerity.
The European Court of Auditors will document this absurdity in a coming report which criticizes the EU for failing to make constructive use of the funds. Last year, the backlog in the EU was €246 billion, and already this year it is €270 billion, with the tendency increasing. Unless the EU changes habits, its plan to counter China is a paper tiger. The Eurocrats will, however, continue sabotaging projects, which they have been doing since long before the first Chinese company appeared in East or Southeast Europe.
