EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič landed in Beijing for a two-day visit with a blunt task: rebalance a trade relationship with China that has grown increasingly lopsided over the past decade. The trip comes just days before the October EU summit, and the stakes are plain. What Šefčovič brings home will shape what leaders in the room can credibly promise their own citizens.
A Relationship Out of Balance
The imbalance he's trying to address didn't appear overnight. Euronews's Jorge Liboreiro, who explains the high stakes of the visit, describes a decade-long drift toward trade that favours one side. For European workers and the industries that employ them, that drift isn't an abstraction. It's a question of whether the Union can negotiate as a bloc, with the weight of a continental market behind it, or whether member states will have to cut separate deals from weaker positions.
That’s the argument for acting through Brussels. No single capital can rebalance a trading relationship of this scale alone.
Washington's Message to Europe
Pressure is coming from the other direction, too. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Athens for the sixth round of the US–Greece Strategic Dialogue, where security, defence and energy were on the agenda. Speaking the previous night, Rubio said Europe needed to awaken from its "long slumber." Fay Doulgkeri reported from Athens.
It’s a sharp phrase. And it lands at an awkward moment. Euronews framed ties with China, the US and the UK as being tested at once, a rare convergence that leaves little room for drift.
Streets Fill in France
Back in Europe, pressure is domestic as well. Students in France were preparing for another major day on the streets after trade unions joined demonstrations that drew more than 250,000 people across the country on Tuesday. Estelle Nilsson-Julien reported from Paris. The turnout shows younger people and organised labour are making their voices heard, while governments face close scrutiny from the people they serve.
London Weighs Its Options
Across the Channel, the relationship is shifting. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would weigh a "range of options" for the future relationship with the EU, including the possibility of rejoining the bloc. Mared Gwyn put the question to UK Minister for European Relations Hamish Falconer. The programme didn't report his answers, but the framing alone marks a notable change in the conversation.
Pay and Public Trust in Brussels
The programme also turned inward. Belgian MEP Marc Botenga, of The Left, discussed a proposal to halve MEPs' net salaries from €8,800 to €4,400. Critics called it a populist move to grab the public's attention. Whatever one makes of the proposal, it speaks to a live question: how far citizens trust their representatives, and what institutions must do to earn that trust.
Euronews's weekday programme Europe Today brought the coverage, presented live by anchors Méabh Mc Mahon and Stefan Grobe at 8 am Brussels time.
Why This Matters: Europe faces tests on trade, security and its place among partners all at once, and ordinary people far from Beijing or Athens will feel the answers. A lopsided trade relationship with China affects jobs and industry. Washington's calls to wake up raise the question of whether the EU can act together rather than apart. Mass protests in France show citizens expect governments to listen. The debate over MEP pay reminds Brussels that democratic legitimacy has to be earned. From a pro-European perspective, collective action through EU institutions is the only realistic way to meet pressure of this scale, but those institutions must stay accountable to the people they serve.