There is another fly in the ointment in the NMBS/SNCB saga concerning the designation of the Spanish company CAF as the preferred bidder for a multi-billion euro order for up to 600 new trainsets.

Following the French company Alstom’s continued exercise of its legal rights before the Council of State in Belgium regarding the tender, four NGOs have now also gone to the Council of State to demand that the Belgian public railway company halt negotiations with CAF.

This is reported by the newspapers De Standaard and Le Soir. UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese supports the call by the civil society organizations.

Tram line in illegal Israeli settlements

According to the NGOs 11.11.11, Vrede vzw, Al Haq Europe, and Intal, the Basque company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) should be excluded from the public tender procedure because it is involved in the construction and maintenance of the Jerusalem Light Rail. This is a tram line that connects West Jerusalem with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Various Belgian political parties have also previously pointed out that it is “particularly worrying” that a Belgian public company is entering into a partnership with a company that is involved in the expansion of the tram line.

Ironically, CAF’s competitor, Alstom, also played a significant role in the Jerusalem Light Rail, particularly in the early stages of the project. However, due to sustained pressure, various legal proceedings, and widespread international criticism, Alstom decided to withdraw from the operation and new tenders gradually.

Local protests too

Following earlier complaints from Alstom and Germany’s Siemens, the NMBS/SNCB board of directors unanimously confirmed its choice of CAF as the preferred bidder for the supply of new trains at the end of July.

NMBS/SNCB did ask CAF to confirm that its activities respect international law and human rights, something that is difficult to achieve given the Spanish company’s close involvement in the Israeli occupations.

According to De Standaard, quoting Jan Buelens, a lawyer at Progress Lawyers representing the NGOs, “this communication is not included in the award decision itself.”

The CAF works council has also repeatedly voiced its opposition to the Jerusalem Light Rail project. It explicitly stated that the project violates international law and ethical standards. Local trade unions, municipal councils, and human rights organizations in the Basque region also mobilized, but CAF has not yet announced a formal withdrawal.

‘We respect human rights’

CAF argues that the tendering process and the contract are legally valid, that it complies with legal requirements regarding human rights, and that political activism does not influence the applicable tendering criteria.

However, the new tram line does run through settlements in occupied territory, such as Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Ze’ev, Ramot, and Gilo, and many international organizations consider this to be facilitating an illegal situation.

Palestinian land has also been expropriated and houses demolished in various places for the construction of the lines. Palestinian villages and communities in the West Bank also lack access to this network.

This is why the UN Human Rights Council has placed companies such as CAF on lists of companies that contribute to the settlement project. It is also why Albanese, who documents the war in Gaza as a UN rapporteur and advises the UN Human Rights Council, supports the call of the NGOs.

Involvement is clear

In August 2019, the TransJerusalem J-NET consortium, comprising CAF and the Israeli construction and infrastructure company Shapir Engineering, was awarded a contract worth approximately 1.8 billion euros for, among other things, the delivery of 114 new Urbos trams, as well as system design, signaling, electrification, and other electromechanical systems.

It also received a 50% stake in the SPV, a separate legal entity responsible for operating and maintaining the new lines. The turnover of this SPV is estimated at approximately 1 billion euros.

Despite these facts, both NMBS/SNCB and the other public transport companies, De Lijn, TEC, and MIVB/STIB, have continued to place orders with CAF. Next week, the case will be heard by the Council of State.

Weak excuses

In a response to the move by the four NGO’s to intervene in the proceedings brought by Alstom and Siemens before the Council of State regarding the MR30 dossier, NMBS/SNCB states that it “views the events in Palestine with horror” and that it “sympathizes deeply with the local civilian population,” but that the dossier for the purchase of the new MR30 trainsets is given rise to “a debate in the media that goes far beyond the essential purchase of trains by NMBS/SNCB.”

NMBS/SNCB also points out that it “has always ensured strict compliance with European public procurement rules in the context of this tender, which has been running since December 2022.”

NMBS/SNCB believes that it is not its place to determine the foreign policy or trade policy of Belgian and/or European companies. “There is no binding legal instrument for Israeli companies, nor for companies operating in Israel and/or Palestine. NMBS/SNCB cannot take the place of the Belgian or European political authorities in issuing such an instrument.”

However, the company remains silent on its own moral or ethical criteria. “NMBS is well aware that CAF is directly involved in gross violations of international law,” says Meddi Salhi, campaign coordinator at Intal Globalize Solidarity. “We have provided the management with numerous reports documenting CAF’s involvement. Yet they dismiss this and ask for a statement from CAF itself. This attitude is pure hypocrisy.”

Furthermore, the Beasain factory’s committee had already submitted an official request in 2019 to CAF to withdraw from the project in Israel. They argued that the project “does not respect the principles of international law and violates human rights.”

In July of this year, well before the final approval of the tender by the Board of Directors of NMBS/SNCB, several CAF works councils also announced that they had formally demanded that management not violate human rights and to sever all commercial ties with Israel, particularly in the occupied territories.

At a press conference on Tuesday on the issue, UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese stated that “business as usual is no longer an option. Sanctions were imposed on the apartheid regime in South Africa, while Israel has gone much further than South Africa in its crimes against humanity. If states do not act, we must all do our utmost in times of genocide to ensure that we are not complicit. This includes citizens and companies.”