 German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses her last press conference before going on holidays in Berlin, on July 21, 2010. Merkel rejected criticism that "stress tests" being conducted on European banks were not stringent enough, saying they were "very realistic." Photo courtesy AFP. EU trade chief says China business concern rising Shanghai (AFP) July 22, 2010 - European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said Thursday European companies were increasingly worried about doing business in China, citing intellectual property protection as a major concern. De Gucht said procurement policies in particular must become more open and transparent, and that Beijing's "indigenous innovation" policy must not freeze European firms out of the information technology and clean energy sectors. "European companies are increasingly worried," De Gucht told reporters at a trade event at the European Union pavilion at Shanghai's World Expo. "Most of it has to do with the protection of intellectual property because the core of our economy is of course intellectual property," he said. The indigenous innovation policy forces European companies to register as Chinese companies to participate in the public procurement market and to bring their intellectual property "into the open", De Gucht said. The EU is in talks with Beijing to improve conditions for European businesses, but De Gucht also said the bloc was working on measures to demand reciprocity in procurement markets. "The idea is we could respond to a closing of procurement markets, which are very important, not only in China, but all over. We are facing more and more problems with respect to this and that's why we are working on tools to defend ourselves," he said. Foreign business leaders are becoming increasingly vocal about what they see as unfair conditions set by Beijing. German business leaders expressed their concerns about restrictions directly to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at a meeting last week during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, De Gucht confirmed. The European Union was also looking at China's "Great Firewall" system of Internet censorship and its impact on European services in China, he said, adding it would be on the agenda at an economic summit expected in November. "We are actively pursuing this with the Chinese authorities," he said. |
Before she's off, Merkel Wednesday rounded up the press corps in Berlin for one final pre-holiday news conference.
This year, the chancellor should be more ready than ever for a vacation. A new poll by Forsa for news magazine Stern has been an unpleasant slap in the face for Merkel. It unveiled the worst-ever popularity ratings for her conservative coalition government, which has proved to be a rather shaky team after nine months of name-calling and loud differences over virtually anything from taxes to healthcare to painful budget cuts.
Yet despite the bad press, Merkel appeared relaxed and smiling Wednesday, sporting a new summer haircut and brushing off the criticism of her leadership style by focusing on the positive -- Germany's economic comeback after the economic and financial crisis.
Due to high demand for German products from Asia, the motor of Europe's largest economy is comfortably purring. The jobless rate is lower than before the crisis began, a fact international observers rate as a "small miracle," Merkel said. The steps Germany took to rein in the national budget -- Merkel aims to cut some $100 billion until 2014 -- and her efforts to stabilize Greece and the wider eurozone paid off, she said.
"Decisions we took during the past months were sometimes criticized but they are now proving to be correct," she said.
And inside her feisty Cabinet, things are back to normal -- at least that's what she says.
The chancellor insisted her coalition would survive the next three years and is already showed signs of improvement after an admittedly "bumpy start."
"The coalition has pulled itself together a bit now, though I can't promise there won't be any more discussions," she said, well aware about a bumpy fall that might lie ahead of her. It will include decisions on the country's future energy mix, the look of the future military and an extensive welfare reform -- at a time when Merkel's coalition has lost its majority in the upper house of parliament.
The public, angry about the political infighting of the past, doesn't seem to trust the new-found peace.
A poll released Wednesday by the independent polling institute Forsa indicates that the governing parties together got 34 percent support, 14 points down from the September election. It was the lowest support level for the conservative coalition in in 24 years, and one that would leave Merkel and her conservative allies no chance for winning a federal election.
"Voters were unhappy with the way we were discussing things inside the coalition," Merkel conceded. "You can disagree on issues but the way we disagreed was unacceptable."
So unacceptable, actually, that voices surfaced that were calling for Merkel's resignation -- especially after having to replace a total of six conservative leaders (state governors and the federal president) due to resignations and job changes.
Toward the end of Wednesday's news conference, one journalist asked Merkel how long she felt doing her current job. In other words, was she thinking about stepping down?
"Right now it's fun for me and we'll leave it at that," Merkel answered, drawing laughter from the journalists, before sending out one final friendly warning, "You can be quite certain that you will see me again after the vacation."
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