Abstract
As the terminal point of both the overland and the maritime routes of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the European Union faces significant geo-political, economic and geo-strategic consequences. The most evident influence will be on EU-China bilateral relations, but the impact is manifold and multifaceted to the extent that the BRI will spread over a large number of countries, up to and potentially more than the current 64 countries included in the action plan. The BRI will affect the European Union through the European Neighbourhood Policy towards its southern and eastern bordering countries, many of which are essential participants in the BRI. The BRI will also require the European Union to take a comprehensive attitude about its engagement beyond traditional diplomacy, security and defence policies towards an entire range of new diplomacy areas, including cultural diplomacy, energy diplomacy, maritime diplomacy and “rail diplomacy,” consistently with the strategic priorities included in the global strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy. Finally, the increasing Chinese influence in some member states with a central position in the BRI might call for a strengthening of EU internal cohesion policies and the overall attention towards economic integration of peripheral member states.
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- 1.
Major comprehensive reports on the BRI and its significance to the European Union are Amighini (2017), van der Putten et al. (2016). For a more comprehensive analysis of the potential impact of China's foreign policy (including OBOR ) on the European Union, please see China's foreign policy and external relations, Burnay et al. (2015).
- 2.
It is beyond the scope of this chapter to dig into individual member countries’ bilateral activities with China, which have widely differed in size and scope.
- 3.
European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: “Transport is vital to the European economy. Without good connections Europe will not grow or prosper. This new EU infrastructure policy will put in place a powerful European transport network across 28 Member States to promote growth and competitiveness. It will connect East with West and replace today’s transport patchwork with a network that is genuinely European.” Available at https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/infrastructure/news/ten-t-corridors_en.
- 4.
The Yuxinou Railway, in particular, runs from Chongqing to Duisburg in Germany in only 288 hours.
- 5.
EU common messages at the Belt and Road Forum, available at https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/china/26051/belt-and-road-forum-eu-common-messages_en.
- 6.
Of the 12 projects currently included in the draft list agreed upon by the EU-China Connectivity Platform, four are in Poland , three in Slovakia , three in Bulgaria and two in Italy.
- 7.
“A Global Strategy for the European Union” available at https://europa.eu/globalstrategy/en.
- 8.
For a comprehensive review of the impact of infrastructure in development, see Sawada (2015).
- 9.
This is the same perspective that has been recently embraced and highlighted in the EU message at the “Belt and Road Forum” in Beijing on May 14–15 2017.
- 10.
- 11.
Bergsten et al. 2014 and https://www.oecd.org/trade/services-trade/STRI_CHN.pdf.
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Amighini, A.A. (2018). Beyond Ports and Transport Infrastructure: The Geo-Economic Impact of the BRI on the European Union. In: Arduino, A., Gong, X. (eds) Securing the Belt and Road Initiative. Palgrave, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7116-4_14
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