The Financial Times said on the 16th that the European Union announced on the same day that it had launched an "unprecedented" investigation into a subsidiary of the Chinese railway giant CRRC, claiming that it was suspected of using subsidies to "distort" the EU single market.
It is reported that CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CRRC, participated in the tender of the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications, which involved the procurement of 20 electric trains, a 15-year maintenance agreement and staff training, with a market value of 6100 million euros.
The European Commission's Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said in a statement that the preliminary review found "there are ample indications that the company has received foreign subsidies that distort the EU's internal market", which led CRRC Qingdao Sifang to "submit an overly favourable ** in the tender that could cause other companies involved in the public procurement process to lose potential sales opportunities".
According to the Financial Times, the Chinese company's bid was 46 percent lower than the cost estimated by Bulgarian Railways7%, which is 47 lower than the rival Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Talgo5%。Brussels said it was because China** provided 17500 million euros in subsidies.
It is reported that this is the first "in-depth investigation" launched by the European Commission under the new regulations after the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) came into effect in July last year. The regulations stipulate that when the estimated tender value exceeds 2If the company has received at least €4 million in "foreign financial subsidies" from at least one third country in the last three years, the company is required to inform the EU of the public tenders in which it participates.
CRRC-made trains on display at the InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin, Germany**AFP.
CRRC reported on January 22 about the deal with Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport and Communications. Under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, the European Commission now has until July 2 to decide whether CRRC has gained an "undue advantage" in bidding for foreign subsidies. The Commission may accept remedial measures proposed by the company in question, block the company from winning the bid, or issue a no-objection ruling.
According to Reuters, the state-owned CRRC is the world's largest rolling stock manufacturer. At present, CRRC's products and services are distributed in more than 110 countries and regions on six continents, covering the "Belt and Road" countries. In 2019, CRRC completed the acquisition of the locomotive business unit of German railway infrastructure group Vossloh.
AFP mentioned that the investigation comes as the European Union seeks to tighten its grip on Chinese imports. In September last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would launch a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles in her annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg, France. In January, the European Commission released a "European Economic Security Package" to prevent sensitive technology or infrastructure from falling into the hands of "economic competitors" such as China.
In response to the European Commission's own anti-subsidy investigation on China's electric vehicles without an EU industry application, He Yadong, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said at a regular press conference on December 7 last year that the European Commission's investigation lacked sufficient evidence and was a typical protectionist behavior, which was not only strongly opposed by China, but also questioned by many EU member states and EU industries, believing that protectionist measures would only backfire.
He Yadong said that China believes that the countervailing investigation is not in the interests of the automotive industry of China and the EU, seriously disrupts and distorts the global automotive industry chain, including the EU, is not conducive to China, Europe and even the global response to climate change, and will have a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations.
He Yadong stressed that the essence of China-EU economic and trade cooperation is to complement each other's advantages and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. "We hope that the European Commission will listen carefully to the opinions of all parties, abandon protectionist practices, support the deepening of investment cooperation between China and the EU in the automotive industry, promote mutually beneficial and win-win development, and create a good environment for China and the EU to jointly address climate change and achieve green transformation. ”
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