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European Union not in ‘Champions League’ of economic security, ASML rep says
- Dutch semiconductor equipment giant among several business groups on continent critical of Brussels’ efforts to de-risk its relations with Beijing
- American policy “all about curtailing the ability of China to make industrial progress”, ASML’s top EU lobbyist adds
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Finbarr Berminghamin Brussels
The European Union is not in the “Champions League of economic security”, and even “struggles to perform at Europa League level”.
That was the withering assessment of a senior representative of ASML, Europe’s most valuable technology company, who used a football analogy to attack Brussels’ efforts to de-risk its relations with China.
“If you think about the Champions League of economic security and geoeconomic statecraft, we have to think of the United States, we have to think of China, and we also have to think of Japan,” said Wouter Baljon, the Dutch company’s top EU lobbyist, referring to Europe’s premier football tournament.
“If you think of the Europa League, or tier two, we look at countries particularly in our industry, like [South] Korea, like Taiwan, and at best Europe, the EU as a collective.
“The EU clearly … aspires to be in the Champions League, but for high technology, they struggled to perform at Europa League-level,” said Baljon at an event in Brussels on Wednesday, referring to the continent’s inferior competition.
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