Opel protests

Thousands of Opel workers demonstrated at the automaker's only Belgian factory on Wednesday against possible job cuts at General Motors' European plants. Opel's designated buyer, Canadian company Magna, has said that its restructuring plan foresees up to 11,000 job cuts on the continent.

Fritz Henderson, chief executive of General Motors, told the latest issue of German magazine Auto Motor und Sport that the new company - called "New Opel" - will need to close at least one factory.

"Antwerp is an option, but no final decision has been made," Henderson said. The Belgian plant employs about 2,600 people. Opel employs some 49,000 workers across Europe.

German solidarity

The workers in Antwerp were joined by their colleagues from the German factory in Bochum - also a potential candidate for closure. Spanish and British union officials were also present.

"We are here to show our solidarity with our Antwerp colleagues," Peter Scherrer, general secretary of the European Metalworkers' Federation, told the crowd. "If we do not fight it could be Bochum, Luton or Zaragoza tomorrow."

Klaus Franz, chairman of the European Employee Forum of General Motors, said employees of Opel plants across Europe will fight plans by Magna to close any of Opel's plants in Germany, Spain, Britain, Poland or Antwerp.

No conditions for financial assistance

Germany is backing the Magna deal with 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in loans and credit guarantees. But the European Commission warned on Wednesday that such guarantees may not be tied to job-saving conditions.

"State funding under the Temporary Framework is meant to tackle the financing problems due to the credit crunch, and cannot be used to impose political constraints concerning the location of production activities within the internal market," said Jonathan Todd, spokesman for the EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, in Brussels.

Todd said the Commission would "carefully examine whether the German authorities have attached - de jure or de facto - additional non-commercial conditions to their aid for New Opel concerning the location of investments and/or the geographic distribution of restructuring measures."

This also applied to any negotiations with other European countries.

EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said a lasting solution for Opel could only be found if the state's financial assistance came without conditions.

"The employees in Antwerp have the same rights to their jobs as the employees in every other location," Verheugen told German television ZDF on Wednesday. "It can't be that one country finances a solution at the expense of others."

sac/dpa/ap/Reuters
Editor:Michael Lawton