EU Socialists revise China stance, now eye ‘strong’ ties with UK

The European Socialists’s final draft electoral manifesto, obtained by Euractiv, reshuffled its foreign policy priorities while adding various measures to support the agricultural sector amid protests across the EU.

The manifesto, dated 14 February and endorsed by the Party of European Socialists (PES) presidency, is set to be submitted for approval during the party congress on Saturday (2 March).

While in an early draft manifesto, first published by Euractiv last month, EU socialists vouched to “strengthen EU cooperation with US and China”, without explicit reference to political conditionalities, the final draft now states that relationships with Beijing must be based on the promotion of European values and interests.

“We will rebalance our relations with China, promoting our values and protecting our interests, and further cooperating to address pressing global issues,” the document reads.

The need to boost ties with Washington remains in a separate paragraph, while the UK is now also included.

“We will further strengthen EU cooperation with the United States and other democratic allies and build a strong partnership with the United Kingdom,” it writes.

An official from the Socialist (S&D) Group group in the European Parliament told Euractiv that the group pressured the party to change its language on China, particularly to “be more cautious” towards Beijing.

The group wanted to push “a bit harder” but some national parties warned against endangering trade relations, the official noted.

In the past, the S&D group in the European Parliament has vocally supported resolutions suggesting respect for human rights must be at the centre of EU-China relations.

“We must cooperate on global challenges like climate change and health crises [with China]. But we must never forget raising our concerns over systemic human rights violations,” Sven Mikser, S&D MEP and negotiator of the China report said at the time.

The manifesto also calls to strengthen the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service, to enhance the bloc’s influence on the global scene.

“The EU must work to resolve longstanding conflicts worldwide and in Europe, including in Cyprus,” the draft adds.

Negotiations for the solution to the Cyprus issue have been conducted since 1975 under the auspices of the UN, while the EU has not been directly involved as an interlocutor.

Politically, the EU has rejected a two-state solution pushed forward by Ankara and instead insists on a bizonal, bicommunal federation as a solution to reunite the Mediterranean island after the Turkish invasion in 1975.

‘Sustainable agriculture’ at the heart of environmental protection

Regarding agriculture and the much-discussed green transition, the initial draft did not make any reference to farmers.

However, the socialists are evidently feeling the heat of the farmers’ protests mounting across the EU, having now included a substantial amount of proposals targeting the agricultural sector, while also intertwining it with further environmental protection and a boosted “Green Social Deal”.

“Climate and biodiversity crises are real threats to food security and to the livelihood of farmers (…) Our fight for the Green Deal is also a fight to improve the lives of farmers,” the final version of the manifesto reads.

Trying to shift the centre-right and far-right electoral narrative on agriculture, which have capitalised on the farmers’ protest to target the EU’s Green Deal, the Socialists state that “we fundamentally disagree with the conservatives’ approach that sustainability is the enemy of farmers.”

Among others, they vouch to “strengthen” the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support small-scale farmers; to protect them from unfair competition from third countries, a reference to the controversial Mercosur trade deal; and to increase financial support for farmers to abide by the heightened environmental requirements imposed by the Green Deal.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]