#China: President Juncker delivers speech following 18th EU-China Summit and EU-China Business Summit

Speaking at the press conference following the 18th EU-China Summit, Commission President Juncker said that with his Chinese counterparts he expressed the EU's serious concerns over the overcapacity in steel production.

"This is a very serious problem for Europe and for the Europeans, that has led to extensive job losses in Europe in the past," he said, stressing that market rules must apply to address this current problem in China.

As a concrete result of his discussions with his Chinese counterparts, President Juncker announced that the two sides agreed to create a bilateral working group on steel to monitor overcapacity and verify steps taken by China to address it – "A kind of steel platform between China and the European Union to keep alive the debates and the discussions we have and monitor decisions related to the steel overproduction," he said. On the issue of market economy status, President Juncker underlined that the EU will stick to its international obligations and is producing an impact assessment looking at the consequences for each EU member state and only following this process, will the Commission take a decision. The College will have a debate on this on 20 July, President Juncker announced.

The full texts of the President's speeches at the press conference following the EU-China Summit and at the EU-China Business Summit are available online.

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