Two Chinese photovoltaic giants announced this Monday, May 13, their withdrawal from a call for tenders in Romania. For Europeans, this is proof of the effectiveness of their new legal instruments which make it possible to ensure “ transparency and fair competition », according to the words of Thierry Breton, the Internal Market Commissioner. The opening of an investigation was announced at the beginning of April.
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With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet
Businesses Chinese Longi and Shanghai Electric withdraw from the race to build a photovoltaic park in Romania. This must cost more than a hundred billion euros, part of which will be financed by European funds.
In force for less than a year, the new European regulation makes it possible to monitor calls for tenders when public contracts amount to more than 250 million. In this case, the companies which bid, which participate in the call for tenders, must notify the European Commission when they have received more than four million euros of financial contribution from a foreign country.
Distortion of competition
In this case, Longi is the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels and Shangaï Electric is a state-owned enterprise. The suspicion of foreign subsidies raised fears of a distortion of competition at the European Commission.
The investigation was only in its early stages, but the regulation now makes it possible to simply prohibit participation in a European public procurement market for companies that benefit from foreign subsidies. The photovoltaic sector is particularly sensitive since Europe imports 97% of its solar panels.
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