Europe’s new plan to safeguard its economy

As the ChineseEUEU EU proverb almost says, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single white paper. That, at least, is how a lot of policy is made. On January 24th the European Commission published a series of such papers and proposals on how to monitor and restrict exports of sensitive technology and investment in these sectors abroad (read: China). It also presented legislation on screening investment by foreign firms in Europe. Those hoping for sweeping change will be disappointed. The package is a lot less ambitious than an outline strategy published last June had suggested. And it hardly matches America’s punchiness or a joint statement by President Joe Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, in March 2023, which envisaged the and America working hand-in-hand. That is perhaps because doing things bluntly and expensively, American-style, may be the wrong yardstick for the . It might be more realistic for it to emulate Japan’s carefully thought-through approach.