Oslo had already ordered 20 metro trainsets from the Spanish company CAF when the UN placed the company on a blacklist in September 2025 because it does business with Israel. The City Government wanted to withdraw from the agreement, but was bound by an option agreement for a further 24 trainsets. It would therefore have cost Oslo NOK 11 billion to terminate the contract.

A majority on the City Council therefore voted in favour of proceeding with the purchase on Wednesday. Only Rødt and SV voted against.

The Councillor for Transport had to bite the bullet.

Marit Kristine Vea (L), Councillor for Environment and Transport, defended the decision on the grounds that the Municipality of Oslo risked a financial blow of NOK 11 billion if the option agreement were terminated.

In December last year, Sporveien estimated, according to Aftenposten, that changing supplier could cost up to NOK 11 billion and result in a delay of five years.

‘This has not been easy, but it is nevertheless the right thing to do,’ said Vea regarding the City Council’s approval, according to Vårt Oslo.

She emphasised that there is no doubt that there are issues associated with CAF, and that the City Government has wanted to examine the possibility of getting out of the agreement.

‘We know what the situation is in the West Bank and in Gaza. We take our responsibility as a purchaser very seriously. But we are also in the middle of a historic expansion of the metro system,’ said Vea.

The UN has moved in an obviously anti-Israeli direction since Israel responded to the massacre of 7 October 2023. Oslo has become a Palestine-friendly city without thinking through the consequences.

It wants to have its cake and eat it too.