The Chinese state-owned company Covec has been given the go-ahead to build a motorway through Poland. It’s the first time that a construction project in the EU has been awarded to a Chinese company. Critics of the project suspect China helped to influence the decision.Poland is under pressure. By the time the European Championships of soccer kick off in June, 2012, the country has to modernize its long-distance road network. So the government in Warsaw was pleased to be able to hand over construction of part of the Lodz-Warsaw motorway to the Chinese. They managed to undercut all of the other applicants and promised to deliver only the best quality. No surprise, as they intend to compete for construction projects in other EU countries too.