EU Executive Slows Drive for China Investment Deal

European Council President Charles Michel gestures during a video conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and CCP head Xi Jinping, in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 30, 2020. Johanna Geron/Pool/File Photo/Reuters

BRUSSELS—The European Commission has dialed down efforts to promote its planned investment agreement with China, recognizing that EU lawmakers will not approve any such deal while Beijing maintains sanctions on five of their colleagues.

The Commission said in a statement on Wednesday the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI) could not be divorced from other EU-Chinese developments and that the sanctioning of EU lawmakers was “unacceptable and regrettable.”