‘China problem’ may be key as nominees vie for top European Commission jobs

“Europe has a China problem.”

These are not words you would have heard from a budding EU trade commissioner a decade ago, when cutting juicy deals with booming economies like China was the top line of the job description.

But in 2024, this might be the kind of rhetoric needed if you want to be handed the keys to the EU’s directorate of trade for the next five years.

“China is challenging us in such a fundamental way that it would be naive to deny that Europe has a China problem. Just read the reports of the Dutch intelligence agencies,” said Wopke Hoekstra, the ex-Dutch foreign minister, in a stump speech for a China-facing portfolio in the next European Commission.

The current climate commissioner went on to blame China for “derailing our economy”, in the sort of language it would be hard to imagine coming from Valdis Dombrovskis, the taciturn Latvian incumbent.