Commission calls Opel summit

Industry ministers will discuss General Motors’s restructuring plans.

The European Commission has called a meeting of industry ministers on 23 November to discuss General Motors’s restructuring plans for the carmaker Opel.

The Commission hopes to avoid a repeat of events in September, when the Belgian, UK and Spanish governments protested to the Commission that Germany was offering state aid to Opel in exchange for job cuts being concentrated in other member states.

Germany offered aid to support the sale of Opel to the Canadian car-parts maker Magna. GM reversed its decision to sell Opel on 3 November, saying that it wanted to restructure the company itself and make it economically viable.

Job cuts

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Nick Reilly, the head of GM’s operations in Europe, is expected to attend the meeting. Reilly said this week that the firm is likely to cut 9,000-10,000 jobs at Opel. He has begun discussions with trade unions, on future production plans, and with governments, about possible state aid.

A Belgian official said that his government will also demand that GM provide “guarantees” and proof that decisions about the restructuring of Opel will be based on “honest and economic criteria, not nationalistic or other criteria”.

Opel employs 2,300 people at a plant in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp.

The Belgian government has called for a further ministerial discussion about Opel on 4 December.

The Flemish government this week offered €500 million to support production in Antwerp.

Reilly met UK union leaders and Peter Mandelson, the UK business minister, on Tuesday (17 November) to discuss his intentions for GM’s plants in the UK.