China to lift sanctions on EU lawmakers to unlock trade talks

China is to lift sanctions on five current and former MEPs who have criticized its human right violations, according to a senior Parliament official, clearing the way for trade talks between the two superpowers.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola will break the news to political group leaders during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, said the official, whom POLITICO granted anonymity to speak about internal deliberations.

Last week, Metsola’s spokesperson confirmed that negotiations to end the sanctions between the Parliament and the Chinese government were in “their final stages.”

The lifting of sanctions comes against the backdrop of a decision by United States President Donald Trump to upend international trade relations by slapping tariffs on imports, with the most punitive levies falling on China. The resulting uncertainty has jump-started EU trade negotiations with countries around the world.

Since China imposed the sanctions on the five MEPs in 2021, the Parliament has held an unofficial veto on China, conditioning any potential diplomatic contact on Beijing's lifting the sanctions.

European Parliament lawmakers have not toned down their criticism of China, arguing that President Xi Jinping’s aggressive trade and industrial policy and human rights violations must not go unchecked.

The Parliament’s leading MEP on international trade, Bernd Lange, said that despite the green light to engage with their Chinese counterparts, many obstacles remain to a smooth EU-China trade relationship.

“We are very concerned about China's industrial policy that leads to market distortions and creates overcapacity that floods the world market,” he said, adding he also wants to “discuss intensively” the market access barriers China has imposed.

“Facts do not change with lifting of sanctions,” said French Socialist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, one of the sanctioned MEPs. 

“We are talking about mass deportations, systematic forced labour, atrocities against the Uyghurs, brutal repression and human rights violations in Hong Kong, threats, interference, and intimidations against Taiwan, and so many other grave human rights violations,” Glucksmann added.

The other sanctioned MEPs are Bulgarian liberal Ilhan Kyuchyuk, center-right Slovak Miriam Lexmann, and two Germans: Green Reinhard Bütikofer and Christian Democrat Michael Gahler.

The EU and China have increased contacts in recent months. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited President Xi in mid-April, and EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič recently held exchanges with his Chinese counterparts. A high-level EU-China summit is slated for July.

The spokesperson for the Chinese mission to the EU didn't respond to a request for comment.