The cooperation agreements within the belt and road initiative: The european common commercial policy at crossroads

Abstract

To carry out Chinese investments in third countries under the Belt and Road Initiative, the China is currently concluding numerous cooperation agreements called Memorandums of Understanding with its objective States, including European Union Member States. These Memorandums of Understanding are international agreements, but not international treaties as such, which implies that these documents may not lead to rights and obligations under International Law. However, every Memorandum of Understanding signed between China and a European Member States should be interpreted in accordance with European Law. The problem is that Member States are presumably violating different instruments of this legal framework as well as the European Union Common Commercial Policy, which is an exclusive competence of this international organization, if we interpret that these cooperation agreements are masking free trade agreements. This paper aims to analyse this possible interpretation and its consequences for the European Union, as these agreements entail a weakening of the European trade and investment power and put the European Common Commercial Policy at crossroads. Received: 10 May 2021Accepted: 05 November 2021