Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Swedish Industry Minister Maud Olofsson warned General Motors Co. against seeking government aid in Europe for its Adam Opel GmbH unit that would preserve jobs in one European Union nation at the expense of those in other EU states.
“We will not allow GM to go to each and every country to negotiate about state aid,” Olofsson told reporters today in Brussels before a meeting with her EU counterparts. The EU must “stick to the rules -- no state-aid race.”
EU governments are awaiting details of the Opel turnaround plan while European regulators led by Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes are seeking to ensure that any national aid for the carmaker won’t distort competition in the 27-nation bloc. Olofsson is leading the gathering because Sweden holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
GM wants to contribute 600 million euros ($905 million) to the 3.3 billion-euro restructuring plan for its Opel and Vauxhall brands, while European taxpayers would be asked to shoulder the remainder, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said on Dec. 2.
About 5,400 of the 9,000 jobs GM may cut across Europe will be lost in Germany, Nick Reilly, Opel’s acting chief, said on Nov. 25 after presenting a restructuring plan to labor officials. Opel, based in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, employs about 24,300 workers in Germany.
Olofsson said Reilly will brief ministers about the recovery plan.
Saab Plant
Ministers want to get a global view of how GM will restructure Opel with government aid so that “we can share the difficulties” between small and big countries, Olofsson said.
Olofsson said, “We don’t know yet” whether GM’s Saab unit can find a new buyer after Koenigsegg Group AB dropped a takeover bid on Nov. 24. “We hope that they will have a chance to find a new buyer, but we are not sure, of course.”
There are about 3,000 jobs at stake at a Saab plant in Sweden, as well as other workers at supply companies that are affected, she said.
“We are working very hard to get a new buyer, but the new buyer needs to have a lot of money and a strong business plan,” she said. “We hope that it will be possible, but it’s short of time.”
The sale of Saab as well as the Saturn and Hummer brands was part of GM’s plan to return to profit after a U.S.-backed bankruptcy reorganization. GM came out of bankruptcy in July and the U.S. government holds a 61 percent stake in the Detroit- based company.
Source:bloomberg.com/
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