German government officials were scheduled to meet representatives of other European countries with Opel factories on Friday afternoon in Berlin to discuss potential aid contributions for the European General Motors unit.
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A ministry spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires the meeting would take place this afternoon. Spain – home to the giant Corsa plant near Zaragoza – isn’t planning to attend the meeting, a Spanish official has said.
The report said Germany’s economics minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg would meet Spanish industry minister Miguel Sebastian in Berlin this afternoon. Sebastian is in Berlin to meet Magna International’s co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf.
Germany’s federal and state governments have promised a total of EUR4.5 billion in loans and guarantees, but want to gradually reduce that contribution with support from other European countries where the carmaker has operations. Opel has plants in Spain, Belgium and Poland. Vauxhall has two plants in the UK.
Spain and the UK are concerned that the current plan could favor German jobs at the expense of their workers and have threatened to give no aid.
Magna’s plan calls for 11,000 job cuts across Europe, 4,000 in Germany.
Any aid package needs approval from the European Commission.
Magna has promised to keep all German Opel sites open, but has said it might close a plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
GM has said, when announcing the plan last month, that some production might shift from the Zaragoza factory to Eisenach, Germany.
Germany’s funding pledge comes from the government’s EUR110 billion rescue fund for companies threatened by the current economic crisis, Dow Jones noted.
