Chinese buses in Senegal benefit local jobs if conditions met, says MEP

Senior European socialist MEP Udo Bullmann stated that Senegalese authorities should be allowed to use EU development funds to purchase Chinese buses, provided the deal creates jobs for local workers.

A controversial European tender worth over €300 million for buses and infrastructure in Dakar, the capital of Sénégal, appears likely to be awarded to a Chinese state-linked company. That firm has previously been found guilty of violating EU foreign subsidy rules.

While some European officials and parliamentarians condemned the potential outcome—one even called it “madness”—Bullmann voiced support on condition that local employment benefits are guaranteed.

“The key criterion is a skilled African workforce and the creation of African added value,” Bullmann said Monday in Brussels.

During a visit by the Senegalese government to China last June, both nations agreed to set up a bus assembly plant in Sénégal.

As long as the winning bidder hires locally, the MEP said he is unconcerned about the Chinese offer.

“I don’t care,” he stated, 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 for relations with South Africa, is coordinating the Socialists’ Africa Days in the European Parliament this week, bringing African policymakers and decision-makers to Brussels. He asserted that Europe remains Africa’s best alternative.

“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 announced in May that future EU development aid projects would include “measures to strengthen European preference” – 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 argued that Senegalese authorities should pick the best offer for themselves, as he previously indicated.

“In essence, you are asking Senegalese people to pay twice as much,” Andrews noted, referencing that CRRC’s bid is less than half that of Scania, the only European competitor in the tender.