Just as Feng Xiaochen was sharpening his knife and preparing to go to Europe to buy the bottom, the European Commission was also holding a hearing to solicit the opinions of key European companies on dealing with the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis.

"We hope that the EU will give more support to European companies. ”

Albert, sales director of Seamans, appealed loudly at the hearing.

"Yes, the European market has been in the doldrums for many years. Previously, we were able to barely break even, but after the subprime mortgage crisis, the number of orders we received was greatly reduced, and it is already a high probability that our company will lose money next year. If the EU does not provide us with effective support, I think we at Prometheus are likely to be threatened with bankruptcy in a few years. Heinzl, a representative of Prometheus, echoed.

Inspired by Heinzl, representatives of other companies also expressed their stance and competed to sell miserably:

"Exactly. If we can't get funding from the EU, we're going to lay off 15,000 people in three months, which would be a very scary event. ”

"We will have to stop production in five factories, and in addition to the workers in these five factories who will be laid off, there are no less than 120 enterprises that provide supporting services to these five factories, and their workers will also be in danger of losing their jobs. ”

"Yes, we will also make layoffs!"

"We're likely going to file for bankruptcy protection!"

"We are one of the oldest enterprises in Europe, and if our company goes out of business, it will be a major loss of European industrial tradition. ”

The crowd was clamoring, each more alarmist than the other. Everyone knows that this is a good time to put pressure on the EU, and whether companies are really in danger or not, it always hurts to be serious. Being able to receive funding from the EU is simply a free benefit, so why not? Moreover, the market downturn is a fact, and almost no company is immune.

Bovard, the EU official who presided over the meeting, frowned and took note of the opinions of the business representatives, one by one. Of course, he also knew that these people's words were somewhat pompous, and they were trying to make things more serious in order to make the EU pay for their losses. But that's what the EU does, and how dare the EU go against the will of these big companies because they have the right to speak in Europe. In addition, if these companies do have problems such as large-scale layoffs, the EU will also be the one to blame.

"I've heard everyone's opinions. ”

When the narrative was over, Bovard tapped his notebook with the tip of his pen and said to the group: "The question now is, what kind of support do you want from the EU? I mean, I need to know some specific practices, not just ask for funding or anything like that." ”

"In fact, what we need most is the market. Albert was the first to reply, and his words drew widespread approval, with everyone nodding desperately in agreement.

"I don't understand, how do you need the European Commission to solve the market problem for you?" Bovard said.

"As a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, corporate investment in Europe has decreased, and orders for our company's products have fallen by 30 percent," Albert said. In this case, unless we close some factories, the fixed costs of those factories alone will put us in a serious loss. To change this, we have to gain access to markets outside Europe, especially the United States. ”

Hearing this request, Bovard showed a wry smile and said, "Mr. Albert, it is completely impossible for us to gain access to the American market. The U.S. Department of Commerce has been negotiating with us at this time, hoping that we will open up the market to the United States. You are a power generation plant, and you should know that several new power plants in the United States have received strict requirements from the government, restricting them from purchasing equipment produced in the United States. ”

"These hateful Americans!" scolded one of the businessmen present, "they keep saying that they are our allies, but when they are in trouble, they do not want to share the pressure for their allies, but to transfer their own pressure to their allies." Over the years, have we been burdened less by the Yankees?"

"I think that's something that should be considered by the Council of Ministers, I'm just an ordinary business official. Bovard shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't carry the pot. Because this pot is too big for his small body to carry.

Bovard knew far more about the relationship between Europe and the United States than the businessmen present. He knows that during this period, the US government has been pressuring the EU to relax trade barriers and adopt monetary tightening policies. At the same time, the United States itself is increasing trade barriers and at the same time adopting quantitative easing policies to attract international investors to invest in the United States. EU officials are well aware that the Americans are sacrificing Europe's interests in order to help the United States get out of the crisis as soon as possible.

In the face of the unreasonable demands of the United States, the EU really has little confidence to refuse. Europe's security is based on the protection of the United States, and without the protection of the Americans, Europe would have to face the threat of force from Russia alone. Don't look at the collapse of the Soviet Union, the strength of this polar bear has been greatly reduced, but it is more than enough to overthrow an EU. Recently, the United States has taken many small moves against Russia, constantly provoking Russia's iron-fisted leader, in fact, to scare the EU in disguise and let the EU know that it cannot do without the United States.

Knowing this, Bovard could only say that he could not help the requests made by various companies to enter the American market. It is already good that the EU can now protect its market from being eroded by the Americans, and how dare it think about entering the American market.

"If that's the case, then we can take a step back and hope that the EU can help us open up the markets of developing countries, especially China. Albert said. His previous offer to enter the U.S. market was actually a means of bargaining, and Bovard refused the former, so it was inconvenient to refuse his latter.

Sure enough, Bovard's face showed embarrassment, and he said: "Mr. Albert, I don't understand why you would ask the European Commission to help you develop the market. Isn't it a business to open up a market?"

"No, it's not just a business practice. "Over the past decade or so, the Chinese have developed their own equipment industry by stealing our technology." Now, not only have they achieved import substitution and no longer use our equipment, but they are also stealing our traditional markets in Asia, Africa and South America. Since they are using unethical means of competition, we have no advantage in the competition at all. ”

"Can you elaborate on the immoral means of competition?" asked Bovard.

"For example, they violated the rules on employee welfare in production," Albert said. It is understood that their workers work 12 hours a day and earn less than 2 euros per hour. In this way, they have been able to reduce the cost of equipment so that they can defeat us in the price war. ”

"Yes, I've heard that the working conditions of their workers are very poor, and the coffee break rooms that are very common in European companies are completely non-existent in Chinese companies. ”

"Also, they use a lot of coal to generate electricity, polluting the air of the whole planet!"

"They imitate our brand!"

Everyone began to count China one by one, and the level of indignation was comparable to that of someone's "seven hatreds" hundreds of years ago. They have completely forgotten that only six or seven years ago, most Europeans thought that the Chinese were really stupid and naïve, and that the products produced by the Chinese were so cheap that they were simply working for Europeans for free.

"We hope that the EU will initiate a strict review of products made in China, including the review of intellectual property rights, the environmental system and the social responsibility system, and Chinese companies that cannot meet the EU standards will be banned from entering the EU market for their products...... and other national markets with which we have trade agreements. Heinzl said, visibly stammering at the end of the sentence.

The EU can set its own policies, but it is a bit of a stretch to make them affect other countries. However, if such restrictions do not include countries outside the EU, especially the developing countries in general, then the restrictions are of little significance. As the European market enters a cold winter, what everyone wants is to seize the market of developing countries, so their biggest purpose is to ask the EU to help them squeeze China out of these developing countries.

"I will submit your comments to the European Commission for discussion. Bovard nodded to everyone and said: "However, the help that the European Commission can provide to everyone is limited after all, and I hope you can take more active measures to effectively control costs and win the market with your own strength." I am confident in European companies. ”

This is the end of the hearing, and the representatives of the participating companies have no idea what kind of response the European Commission will give to the demands of the companies. The European Commission will certainly support European companies, which is not a concern, but the European Commission's decision-making process is cumbersome and inefficient. The request they put forward today may not be able to enter the agenda of the committee until six months later, and then it is normal for a long time to drag on for a year and a half. Even if there is a resolution in the end, it will still have to be approved by the parliaments of the European Union, and it is not known what kind of demon moths will be produced in the meantime.

Everyone exchanged complaints about the EU's decision-making system and walked out of the conference room. Heinzl walked over to Bovard:

"Mr. Bovard, I have one more thing to report to the European Commission, which is the Captain Cook project for deep-sea oil development. Can you give me ten minutes?"