This policy brief examines some of these obstacles by analysing existing and potential energy cooperation between EU and GCC states in the context of the run-up to COP28. It also highlights the opportunities for the EU in a new approach to climate relations with the GCC states, especially regarding its climate goals and energy security imperatives.
To support the introduction and strengthening of a heartland economic zone, political support is essential. This should take the form of a coalition of the willing: in the first instance, the more EU-orientated governments of Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Baltic states may be naturally more inclined to cooperate. Hungary’s approach
European policymakers should focus on existing regional powerhouses—like the central European industrial heartland—and make a bold move on integration and experimentation, complementing the EU-wide actions. Rampant subsidies certainly provided China with a head start, but now its industrial champions benefit from their own extremely robust, fle
However, this move into Europe is bringing little value added in terms of specialised jobs and innovation to local economies, including in the central European heartland. The first examples of production based in Europe—notably Leapmotor’s facility in Poland—show that Chinese companies prefer to import complete assembly sets (the so-called se
units; by 2000, this number had doubled. The country’s accession to the WTO further opened up its automotive market. China reduced tariffs on imported cars and gradually removed obligations that had set minimum percentages of Chinese-made parts in car production. Alongside these developments, the burgeoning Chinese middle class’s increased dema