Italy to pull out of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative – Reuters
Italy has informed China that it is pulling out of the Belt and Road Initiative, Reuters reported.
Italy is the only G7 country to have joined the programme, which focuses on trade and infrastructure.
Rome’s agreement with Beijing would have been renewed automatically in March 2024, unless Italy gave at least three months’ written warning.
Nevertheless, Corriere della Sera reported that the Italian government also sent China a letter expressing desire to maintain a strategic partnership.
The move comes as Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission chief, and Charles Michel, the European Council president, are set to meet the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, at a summit on Thursday.
They are expected to issue a veiled warning that unless China does something about the supply of cut-cost goods to Europe, the bloc could retaliate.
Key events
Most Europeans say they would probably vote in European parliament elections
The majority of citizens believe that the EU has an impact on their daily lives, and most have expressed interest in the upcoming European parliament elections, a Eurobarometer poll has found.
Asked about the policy topics, citizens want the European Parliament to prioritise the fight against poverty and social exclusion (36%) and public health (34%) as the main topics, followed by action against climate change and support to the economy and creation of new jobs (both 29%).
The study also found many Europeans want the European parliament to have a greater role.
Most Europeans (53%) wish the European Parliament to play a more important role, a majority view in 21 Member States.
The majority (57%) also expressed interest in the upcoming elections to the EP and 68% say they would be likely to vote if European elections were held in a week’s time – nine points higher than 5 years earlier.
Here are the numbers for Austria, where 22% of respondents said EU membership is a bad thing for their country, according to the latest Eurobarometer.
Asked “in general, does the EU conjure up for you a very positive, fairly positive, neutral, fairly negative or very negative image,” only 12% of Hungarian respondents said they have a total negative view of the EU, according to the latest Eurobarometer.
There is a slight shift in how Italians see EU membership, according to the Eurobarometer polling published today. In a March poll, 47% of Italian respondents said EU membership is a good thing. In the autumn, that number went down to 43%.
Europeans pessimistic about their future standard of living, polling shows
Seventy-three per cent of Europeans think their standard of living will decrease over the next year, according to a Eurobarometer poll published this morning.
Close to half (47%) have already seen their standard of living reduced. 26% have not, but expect it to decrease over the next year.
37% have difficulties paying bills sometimes or most of the time, the study found.
Asked “during the last twelve months, would you say you had difficulties to pay your bills at the end of the month”, 36% of Greeks said “most of the time” while 50% of Greek respondents said “from time to time”. 14% said “almost never/never”.
In Sweden, on the other hand, 93% said they “almost never/never” have difficulties paying bills.
72% of Europeans says their country benefited from EU membership, study finds
The majority of Europeans seeing membership in the European Union as a good thing, according to a Eurobarometer poll published today.
“Large and stable majorities of Europeans (61%) say that EU membership is a good thing and that their country has benefited from being a member of the EU (72%),” the report found.
It added:
Results for the latter have been steadily increasing over time, going from 50% in autumn 2010, to 67% in spring 2019 and reaching 72% since autumn 2020.
At the national level, over nine out of ten citizens in Lithuania (94%), Ireland (93%), Luxembourg (93%) and Malta (92%) say their country has benefited from EU membership, while the lowest shares are found in Italy (57%), Bulgaria (57%) and Austria (55%).
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