Visible ambition is needed if Europe is to compete with China’s Belt and Road

It’s later than ever, and it’s a better thing than anything else. This would make sense, as curmudgeonly, to take action on Global Gateway, EU economic infrastructure was launched last Wednesday with an unspoken but obvious intent against the China Belt and Road Initiative.

The plan fulfills the promise of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, products in his September State of the Union article. His view was that “it does not make sense for Europe to build a good road between the Chinese copper mines and the Chinese port. We need to be prudent about this kind of currency.”

Long ago I suggested to judge the basics on three things. Will it be big enough to compete with BRI? Is it just to support the “hardware” of the building or to want to share EU “programs”, laws and regulations that support economic integration? Third, the simple but unnecessary element of a very encouraging name. (Marco Polo Project? Magellan Network?)

The name was settled. What about the other two trials?

In terms of growth, Brussels promises € 300bn over seven years. Critics have called for financial engineering behind the figures, which includes “collected” money from business investors and a sub-EU region. The objection is justified, but not necessary if a € 300bn infrastructure is built. The problem is not the source but the amount of money.

The money would have been a game changer in the mid-2000s. It would have been enough in late 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping announced for the first time a “century job”. Today, it seems to be very heavy against the BRI which is funded by more than $ 100bn a year before the epidemic.

Although it is not good, € 300bn buys you more if all the money is possible. And every euro has a big problem because the EU is adding its program to its hardware.

New plans are clearly emerging from this. Construction projects will be designed to “strengthen compliance” with EU privacy laws and digital competition, as well as European standards for movement.

This is how it should be. The EU has nothing to do but try to shape its foreign economic relations in its image if it wants to undermine the BRI. And that is what is at stake, though European leaders do not like to say that.

The mantra in Brussels is “bridges, not dependence”. It makes sense: relying on what BRI projects have created such as having a loan or drawing data, like Britain new major spyware. Truly the principle of Global Gateway is to give countries a “better” way instead of those traps.

But this is misleading. The EU wants – and should want – to make a living. Managing connections do this, just as Global Gateway would think of “strengthening digital networks, mobility and energy”, and providing “chain integration”. This is why Beijing pursues the same goals: to form all the economic alliances into China and to change its preferences.

The EU doctrine should be that not all dependents are the same, and that building oneself in Europe gives you a better shot at both freedom and prosperity than losing your identity with the BRI.

In addition to the necessary financial deficits, two additional elements that are required for such a theory to be valid are missing. One is the clear vision of how bits fit together. Currently Global Gateway looks like a series of uncoordinated construction sites. But the nature of the network these projects want to create – if there is such a goal?

If its goal is to build a EU-centric global economy, then to say this would be honest and to make the process more cohesive.

That would be a good goal. But another thing that is missing is the proper definition of the role of the participating countries in EU-centric networks – a model for countries to connect to the EU market physically, legally, and systematically. Offering a deeper deal than businesses offer, yet less than a full-fledged single-market membership, it would be great for many countries to turn down construction assistance from Beijing.

Economic attraction is like a physical kind. For smaller bodies, they choose their own possible options. For adults, it is a force that attracts others. Europe, a large group of small and medium-sized countries, is still learning the meaning of economic growth.

martin.sandbu@ft.com