Only 37 percent sided with the Commission.
Member States were unable to prevent the tariffs proposed by the European Commission to be imposed on Chinese-made electric vehicles on Friday (October 4), thus opening the way for their final introduction, which could take place by the end of the month, reports Euractiv .
The decision means the Commission could impose tariffs of up to 35.3% on products from Chinese carmakers including BYD, Geely and SAIC.
These duties will be imposed on top of the EU's standard 10% car duty and are required by law to be introduced by October 30 at the latest.
Ten EU member states voted in favor of the tariffs, and five, including Hungary and Germany, voted against them, and 12 member states abstained.
That is, only a minority of member states, 37% to be exact, sided with the Commission. However, to prevent the tariffs, a "qualified majority" would have been needed, meaning that 15 member states, representing 65% of the EU's population, would have had to vote against them - and this did not happen.
The newspaper notes that earlier, in a non-binding advisory vote in July, four EU member states voted against the tariffs, while 11 abstained. It is pointed out that France, Italy and Poland all voted in favor of tariffs - just like in July.
The vote was originally scheduled for Sept. 25 but was postponed as Chinese and EU officials sought a negotiated solution under which Chinese automakers would agree to sell their vehicles at a minimum price to avoid tariffs.
EU officials have repeatedly emphasized that a negotiated solution to the dispute is possible even after October 30.
The Commission's anti-subsidy investigation was announced by President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union address last September, and was officially launched in October 2023. This has triggered counter-investigations by Beijing on imports of European pork and dairy products. Many analysts expect the vote to prompt Beijing to impose tariffs on those products in the coming weeks or even days.
"Tariffs on brandy could be introduced very quickly, and tariffs on pork and dairy products could soon follow"
Victor Crochet, a senior associate at the Brussels law firm Van Bael & Bellis, told Euractiv.
In its statement issued after the vote, the Commission stated as follows:
"The EU and China continue to work hard to find an alternative solution that is fully WTO compliant, properly addresses the harmful subsidies identified by the Commission's investigation, and is verifiable and enforceable."
Featured image: byd.com
