The Belt and Road in the Single Market: Towards an EU legal infrastructure to address the regulatory implications

Based on trends of decreasing BRI investments in Europe and of Member States’ increasing concerns about economic and national security, this chapter provides an analysis of the EU’s legal bulwarks and regulatory responses to address those concerns. It collects ideas on how to increase transparency and convergence between the EU and China, in the spirit of the EU’s connectivity strategy with Asia. It concludes that, while a more realistic and assertive EU approach toward Chinese market behaviour is welcome, the EU should take China up on its pledge to embolden the BRI with “soft connectivity”, i.e. a legal infrastructure, to truly achieve win-win cooperation, rather than risk mutual harm by adopting too protectionist a stance.