EU finds Chinese bidder in Lisbon subway line benefited from unfair subsidy (updated)

Mota-Engil, SGPS

22/04/2026 01:02

Adds comment from the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU in paragraph 5

BRUSSELS, April 21 (Reuters) - A Chinese company that was among those chosen to build a new Lisbon subway line benefited from unfair foreign subsidies, the European Commission said on Tuesday, forcing consortium leader Mota-Engil MOTA.LS to hire a Polish company instead.

The Metropolitano de Lisboa, which commissioned the Violet Line, was authorised to hire the Mota-Engil-led consortium provided it replaced Chinese rolling stock manufacturer Portugal CRRC Tangshan with Polish rival PESA, the Commission said in a statement.

The Commission began an in-depth investigation, in late 2025, which found the unit of Chinese state-owned CRRC had benefited from foreign subsidies that distorted the procurement procedure and gave it "an unfair competitive edge" to the detriment of other bidders.

The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU said the bloc's foreign subsidies rules "grants the European Commission excessively broad and unenforceable discretionary power," in a statement following the announcement.

Portugal CRRC Tangshan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Violet Line is a light-rail surface metro linking Odivelas and Loures, both to the north of Lisbon. The project has a base price of around 600 million euros ($700 million) and is scheduled for completion in 2029.

($1 = 0.8502 euros)

 (Reporting by Inti Landauro and Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

 ((Inti.Landauro@thomsonreuters.com;))