“Senegalese authorities should use EU development funds to buy Chinese buses if it benefits Senegalese workers,” said Udo Bullmann, a prominent socialist MEP.
A European tender worth over €300 million for buses and infrastructure in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, has stirred controversy. The project appears headed toward a Chinese state-linked firm previously found guilty of violating EU foreign subsidy rules.
While some EU officials and lawmakers have criticised this outcome — one even calling it “crazy” — Bullmann said he would support awarding European funds to a Chinese state-linked company, provided it benefits local workers.
“The criterion is a skilled African workforce and the creation of African added value,” Bullmann told me on Monday in Brussels.
Last June, during a visit to China by the Senegalese government, both countries agreed to build a bus assembly plant in Senegal.
As long as the winning bidder hires local staff, the MEP said he is not worried about the Chinese offer.
“I don’t care about that,” he said, while acknowledging he does not know the details of the Senegalese project.
“I welcome investors who invest in Africa and train the African workforce to higher standards,” he added. “That makes all the difference.”
Bullmann, who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with South Africa, is coordinating the Socialists’ Africa Days at the European Parliament this week, bringing together African policymakers and political leaders in Brussels. Europe is Africa’s best alternative, he argued.
“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.
“You need a rule that gives preference to local production. That matters most,” Bullmann insisted, 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 bid that suits them best. He had previously commented to me on this matter.
“In essence, you are asking Senegalese to pay twice as much,” Andrews noted, pointing out that the CRRC bid was less than half the price of Scania, the only European competitor in this tender.
