Brussels vetoes a Chinese firm from taking part within the enlargement of the Lisbon metro | Economy | EUROtoday

The European Commission has already given the inexperienced gentle to the award of the tender to develop the Lisbon metro. Brussels had detected the participation of the Chinese practice producer CRRC Tangshan in one of many candidate consortia, which might have acquired assist from its nation. This unfairly positioned him in advantageous situations that, due to this fact, “distorted the public tender,” based on the Community Executive. Finally, this group of corporations, known as Mota-Engil, has dedicated to the Commission to interchange the Asian companion with a Polish one, known as PESA, and thus the obstacles to persevering with the award course of have been eradicated.

It has been nearly three years for the reason that European regulation on overseas subsidies got here into pressure. The goal is to forestall corporations that obtain public cash with out complying with European and worldwide requirements from profiting from that assist to take part with a bonus within the single market, which distorts competitors. The scope of this regulation ranges from company operations, wherein an organization can purchase one other with subsidies, or participation in public tenders. In idea, nationality does not matter. But it’s evident that the rule has a transparent goal: to cease Chinese corporations which have acquired each financial and different kinds of assist (worth chains, regulatory benefits…).

Public assist to corporations that distort the market is without doubt one of the European objections to the Chinese regime, as is the overcapacity put in in lots of sectors (metal, photo voltaic panels, electrical vehicles). And this has already brought about numerous clashes and actions from the capital of the Union. For instance, the investigation into electrical automobiles carried out between 2023 and 2024 concluded that China offered assist to its producers “from the mine to the port” and ended extra tariffs on imports of those merchandise.

However, though this was probably the most hanging conflict, it was not primarily based on the rules on overseas subsidies, however on the foundations of the World Trade Organization. Other circumstances have been primarily based on this current regulation, such because the investigation, originally of 2024, of a public tender in Bulgaria for the provision of twenty trains and their upkeep for 20 years. The course of ended with the Chinese agency CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive renouncing participation within the contract.

In the case of the Lisbon metro, the Mota-Engil consortium just isn’t pressured to withdraw the supply, however somewhat has to vary the corporate that provides the trains. “Based on the preliminary analysis, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation on November 5, into the indications that Portugal CRRC Tangshan Rolling Stock had received foreign subsidies that distorted the public tender, allowing the consortium [implicado] present an advantageous offer,” explains the Commission.

These suspicions have been confirmed and Brussels has pressured the consortium to suggest modifications to its supply, which mainly include this modification of companion. Now the method can transfer ahead and it’s as much as Metropolitano de Lisboa to determine which supply is the winner and, additionally, that each one the claimed necessities are met. However, the Commission warns that it’ll monitor to make sure that the commitments made by the investigated consortium are fulfilled.

Unlike the Bulgarian case, wherein there was no remaining determination as a result of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive refused to take part within the tender, this time there’s one as a result of the Commission has needed to settle for as legitimate the commitments provided by the Mota-Engil consortium. This is without doubt one of the ends foreseen within the European regulation, which additionally contemplates the veto of the company operation – if what’s proposed is the acquisition of 1 firm by one other – or the prohibition of taking part within the public tender.