The European Commission has approved the awarding of a contract for the design and construction of Lisbon's new "Violet" metro line, following a review under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), a relatively new EU instrument designed to prevent companies backed by non-EU state aid from distorting competition in European markets. The go-ahead was granted to Metropolitano de Lisboa (the Portuguese capital's public metro operator) after the bidding consortium made changes that eliminated concerns about the distorting effects of foreign subsidies. The decision is significant as one of the early cases in which the FSR has shaped the outcome of a major public infrastructure contract within the European Union.