BRUSSELS: The European Commission warned Germany months ago against Chinese investment in the port of Hamburg, sources close to the matter told JEE News on Saturday, as Chancellor Olaf Schulz allegedly backed the deal. was criticized for doing
Sources confirmed a report by daily Handelsblatt that the EU executive had given Berlin the thumbs up to Chinese shipping company Cosco in the spring that it would take a 35 percent stake in the port under a deal struck last year. It is not allowed yet.
The commission feared that sensitive information about activity at the port – Europe’s third busiest – could be passed to the Chinese government.
His recommendation was non-binding, the final decision on the treaty rested with Germany.
German broadcasters NDR and WDR reported Thursday that Scholz’s office plans to approve the deal despite opposition from six different ministries in Germany’s coalition government.
According to the NDR and WDR report, the deal will effectively be ratified automatically if the government does not intervene by the end of this month.
Scholes, who was mayor of Hamburg between 2011 and 2018 before becoming vice chancellor and then chancellor, announced on Friday after attending an EU summit that he would visit China in November.
He said “nothing is set in stone” about Chinese investment, but said there were Chinese stakes in other European ports.
