Post-Brexit UK should 'sleep together with Europe': Ex-EU Commissioner Lamy

"Europe has to exercise influence where it is united and it is united in economic and trade matters," Lamy asserts. "We have our own attitude vis-a-vis China, which is a political rivalry, but an economic interdependence. And most Europeans do not believe we should do with China what the US is doing, which is trying to isolate China. Isolating China is not the way to go. If you make China more autarkic, China will be more dangerous than what it is. So there are differences, and I think the EU has in a way to play its own game in this very complex world."

So which tools should the EU deploy, exactly? "I think what the EU should work for is to address the obstacles to trade today, which is mostly regulatory issues," Lamy answers. "What we need is a more level regulatory playing field. Regulations are about precaution. To me, that's the difference between protectionism and precautionism. Protectionism is when you protect your producers from foreign competition. Precautionism is when you protect your people from risk, for instance, environment. Now if the EU installed a carbon border adjustment at its border, in my view, this is not protectionism, this is precautionism. We have to do that if we want to green the EU economy quicker than others. So these issues are the ones ahead of us. And I think we should be much less obsessed by tariffs, which by the way are usually low now, but more attuned to dealing with regulatory discrepancies."

Turning to Africa’s importance to Europe, Lamy affirms that "long-term, let's say 50 years from now, what will happen in Africa is the most decisive parameter of the EU economic and political future, not least because of proximity. Whatever economic integration or political disintegration you