GM wants aid from EU nations for restructuring
General Motors Co. on Monday asked European governments to help pay most of the $4.9 billion it needs to restructure its struggling European operations.
At talks in Brussels on Monday, EU nations where GM has plants vowed to avoid individual negotiations with the company before a Dec. 4 meeting, when they will coordinate their response to GM’s restructuring plans, due later this week.
Nick Reilly, the CEO of GM’s Adam Opel GmbH and Vauxhall units, said it would be "quite difficult" for GM to supply much of the funding because it must also bear restructuring costs in the U.S. and elsewhere.
"We are looking for support of any government that feels willing to be able to provide us some financing support in the medium term," he told reporters after meeting officials from EU nations where GM makes cars. "We have indicated that we will provide some of the funding."
Reilly said GM would not be influenced in deciding where to cut jobs by how much money each government might offer because "the plan that we have is already in existence."
He refused to give details of the plan to cut 20 to 25 percent of the company’s capacity — that will likely shed thousands of jobs. He said he first wanted to talk to workers’ representatives.
"People at the plants will be the first to hear it," he said.
GM met Monday with ministers from Germany, Belgium, Britain, Spain, Sweden and Poland as well as EU commissioners in Brussels to discuss cutbacks and aid. European nations fear that countries offering bigger subsidies could escape plant closures.
Germany’s deputy economy minister, Jochen Homann, said there was a commitment from all countries not to make any promises before GM puts forward the restructuring plan.
Filed under: money by Finance Boss