The “return to the nations”? What a horror! To avoid this outcome, which the European supranational paradigm cannot tolerate, Stéphane Séjourné recommends immediately engaging in an “iron arm” with China and its industrial and commercial war machine. In an interview published this Thursday May 28 in The World, On the eve of a debate by the College of European Commissioners on relations between the EU and China, the executive vice-president of the institution goes on a scouting trip. And begins by stating the observation: as things currently stand, the EU is the prey and China the predator. Firstly on the commercial level, since “every day, China records a trade surplus of 1 billion euros with the Union”, specifies Séjourné. Which “provides 29 million jobs [européens évidemment, ndlr] “at risk in the short term”. And a prophecy: “If we do nothing, in 2027, our trade deficit will reach 500 billion euros.” The French commissioner interviewed by the French press plays primarily for Europe, but the figures for France are hardly more reassuring. In 2024, France’s trade deficit with China was 46.4 billion euros, and the few attempts made since to reverse the trend (like the tax on small parcels) did not bear fruit.
The alarms raised about China have become a recurring theme in Macronie. Last February, the High Commission for Planning (HCSP) of Clément Beaune, himself a former Minister for Europe like Stéphane Séjourné, published a report with an apocalyptic tone on “European industry facing the Chinese steamroller”. The emphasis was placed on the power of the industrial machine of the Middle Kingdom, its production costs 30 to 40% lower than those of Europe and its trend (unfortunate, say regular Europeanists…
