Brussels, 07/07/2006
To be checked against delivery
Hardly a day goes by without European workers being reminded of China's competitive strengths, by employers, governments - and, dare I say it, by the European Commissioner for Trade.
China is presented as the inescapable face of globalisation.
But, in this debate, globalisation sometimes becomes an argument that social Europe is no longer affordable and is a barrier to necessary reforms and to competitiveness.