Portugal’s Prime Minister has come out in support of Chinese investment in Portugal and in the European Union, and has warned member states not to assume a similar protectionist position to that of United States President Donald Trump.
Following hot on the heels of a European Parliament recommendation to abolish Golden Visas, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has warned European partners against misusing new security procedures for screening Chinese investments, saying it could lead to the continent becoming more protectionist.
In an interview published in the Financial Times earlier this week, António Costa said: “It is one thing to use screening to protect strategic sectors, it is another to use it to open the door to protectionism.”
Portugal is one of the biggest recipients of Chinese investment in Europe.
He added that Portugal’s “experience with Chinese investment has been very positive. The Chinese have shown complete respect for our legal framework and the rules of the market.”
Portugal’s MEO telecommunications operator also recently signed an agreement with the under fire Chinese group Huawei on 5G development.
António Costa said he had taken on board concerns over the Chinese operator, but said: “It is very important not to stop the modernisation of Europe’s digital infrastructure.”
He added closing the EU’s borders to foreign investment was not the answer, and that Brussels needed to rather look at investing more in education and research than placing barriers.
His comments came following the adoption by the European Parliament last month of a regulation to establish a mechanism for cooperation and exchange of information at European level to scrutinise foreign direct investment, where it comes from non-member countries.
The regulation in question, which was approved in a plenary session of the parliament in Strasbourg with 500 votes in favour, 49 against and 56 abstentions, will enable the EU to coordinate the analysis of investments from third countries in strategic sectors in order to ascertain whether or not they threaten public safety or order.
Key infrastructure covered include energy, transport, water, health, communications, media, data processing or storage, aerospace, defence, electoral or financial infrastructure and sensitive facilities, as well as urban buildings that are essential for the use of these infrastructures.
Last week, the European Parliament also called for the abolition of Golden Visas, with Chinese investors having been the biggest recipient of this programme in Portugal.
While the Communist Party and the Left Bloc came out in support of the ruling, parties to the right criticised the EU Parliament’s decision.
“We agree to enhanced monitoring and supervision, but not to the abolition of the programme”, the social democratic MP Carlos Peixoto was reported as saying.
He explained that more than four billion euros have already been invested in Portugal due to golden visas, which “make them very important to the country’s development.”
The People’s Party (CDS-PP) also criticised the EU for interfering in a country’s sovereign affairs.
“The programmes to attract investment should be Portugal’s responsibility and must never be decided in Brussels”, the CDS MP Pedro Mota Soares was quoted as saying by Lusa News Agency.
