“Senegalese authorities should be free to use European development funds to purchase Chinese-made buses if that benefits local workers,” said Udo Bullmann, a prominent socialist member of the European Parliament.
A European tender worth over €300 million for bus supply and infrastructure in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, has stirred controversy, as the contract appears likely to go to a Chinese state-linked company previously found guilty of violating EU foreign subsidy rules.
While some European officials and lawmakers have criticised the prospect — one calling it “madness” — Bullmann said he would support EU funds flowing to a Chinese state-linked firm as long as it helps Senegalese labour.
“The criterion is skilled African labour and the creation of African added value,” Bullmann stated on Monday in Brussels.
In June, during the Senegalese government’s visit to China, the two countries agreed to set up a bus assembly plant in Senegal.
As long as the winning bidder hires locally, the MEP said he has no concerns about the Chinese offer.
“That doesn’t matter to me,” he asserted, while acknowledging he is not familiar with the specifics of the Senegalese project.
“I welcome investors who come to Africa and train the African workforce to higher standards,” he added. “That makes all the difference.”
Bullmann, who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation to South Africa, is coordinating this week the Socialists’ Africa Days in the European Parliament, gathering African policymakers and decision-makers in Brussels. He argued Europe remains the best option for Africa.
“If you want exploitation, you go to the Chinese. If you want political repression… you go to the Americans. If you want friendship, you go to the Europeans,” Bullmann said.
EU development chief Jozef Síkela said in May that “measures to strengthen European preference” would be built into future EU development aid projects — a stance Bullmann rejects.
“We need a rule that gives preference to local production. That is what matters most,” Bullmann said, adding that EU-backed tenders should prioritise African products.
Barry Andrews, chair of the European Parliament’s development committee, also said Senegalese authorities should pick the offer that best suits them, as he had previously indicated.
“In essence, you’re asking Senegalese to pay double,” Andrews noted, referring to the fact that CRRC’s bid is less than half that of Scania, the only European competitor in this tender.
