This Thursday, the 18th, Beijing considered the European Commission’s investigation of the Chinese CRRC, accused of benefiting from public subsidies in a tender for the new Violet Line of the Lisbon Metro, to be “discriminatory”, which would have distorted competition.
At issue is an investigation launched in November by the European Commission under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation to determine whether public support gave the Chinese company CRRC an undue advantage, compared to European competitors, in the Lisbon Metro tender for the construction of the new Violet Line, which could result in corrective measures, prohibition of award or decision of no objection.
On November 5, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to determine whether Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer CRRC, part of the Mota-Engil consortium, had “an undue advantage” in the Lisbon Metro Violet Line tender.
“The Commission today opened an in-depth investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation into possible market distortions caused by foreign subsidies. The investigation will examine whether these subsidies gave the Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer CRRC an undue advantage in participating in a public tender for the acquisition of light rail vehicles in Portugal”, the institution announced in a statement.
Brussels adds that the investigation follows a notification from a consortium led by Mota-Engil, which includes subcontractors such as Portugal CRRC Tangshan Rolling Stock Unipessoal and participated in a Lisbon Metro competition launched in April 2025 for the design, construction and maintenance of the new violet line.
The observation by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce was part of a broad protest against the “flood of investigations” opened by the European Union (EU) into companies such as Nuctech, CRRC and the Temu platform, considering the measures “atrocious” and “discriminatory”.
Ministry spokesman He Yadong expressed “firm opposition” to Brussels’ actions and called on the EU to “immediately abandon the irrational repression of foreign-invested companies, including Chinese” and apply its regulations against foreign subsidies in a “prudent” way, to ensure a “fair and predictable” business environment.
He further stated that Beijing is “closely monitoring” these actions and that “it will take the necessary measures to resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies”.
The statements come after the European Commission announced an in-depth investigation into Nuctech, a state-owned manufacturer of security equipment, on suspicion of having benefited from public support that distorts competition in the European market, including state guarantees, preferential tax treatment and financing under advantageous conditions.
According to Brussels, these subsidies may have given Nuctech an advantage in public tenders, affecting competition in the community space.
Last week, the Commission also carried out a surprise inspection of the European headquarters of the Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, in Dublin, at a time when EU countries were preparing to apply a tax of three euros, from July 2026, on orders under 150 euros from China.