General Motors is expected to present the restructuring plan for its subsidiary Opel in the coming days. Meanwhile, and pending an EU-level coordination meeting on 4 December in Brussels as part of the Competitiveness Council, the European countries have promised not to negotiate public aid individually with the automotive manufacturer. These commitments followed a coordination meeting, on 23 November in Brussels, which brought together Commissioners Günter Verheugen (industry), Neelie Kroes (competition), Vladimir Spidla (employment and social affairs), the interim head of GM Europe Nick Reilly and representatives of the countries with Opel-Vauxhall plants, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Poland.

The states say they back a coordinated European response with the aim of avoiding a subsidy race. Commissioner Verheugen, quoted in the German daily Der Spiegel on 23 November, described as “alarming” the funding promises made by different states to try to keep jobs on their territory. “There is a major risk,” he warned, “that GM may try, through a lack of transparency at European level, to obtain as must as possible from the governments”. The government of the Flemish Region of Belgium, which fears for its Opel plant in Antwerp, offered GM aid of €500 million. Britain and Spain have allegedly made offers of €300 million to €400 million and Poland is said to have offered tax facilities. In a statement released after the meeting, the Commission notes that participants agreed not to make any “formal” commitments before the coordination meeting, on 4 December. They also agreed that “no national measures should be taken without prior information and coordination with the other countries concerned and the Commission”. This did not stop bilateral meetings the next day between GM and German regional authorities.

GM’s Nick Reilly repeated that the firm is counting on the financial support of the governments concerned for its restructuring – estimated at €3.3 billion – and that the plan will “not be influenced by the money provided”.

The Commission’s statement reiterates what it has been repeating the last few weeks: financial support from a member state must be based on objective economic criteria and not be “subject to non-commercial conditions concerning the location of investments and/or the geographical distribution of restructuring measures”. State aid “should facilitate the efforts of manufacturers to adapt production capacities to market developments”.

“There is a major risk that GM may try, through a lack of transparency at European level, to obtain as must as possible from the governments”