European lawmakers to meet GM executives on Friday

By John Revill, Automotive News

General Motors executives from Detroit and Europe will meet European lawmakers Friday, the European Commission said today.

"We have invited for next Friday the highest representatives from General Motors Europe and Detroit. We hope that the chief operating officer from Detroit will be coming," Commission spokesman Ton van Lierop told a news briefing in Brussels.

He added that the industry and economy ministers from all 27 European Union countries had been invited to the informal meeting with GM. He expected those countries where GM has factories and suppliers to attend.

GM Europe, which includes Germany's Opel and UK-based Vauxhall, is seeking Euro 3300 million ($4.2 billion) in financial help from European governments to avoid a cash crunch.

On 4 March, GM chief operating officer Fritz Henderson said the carmaker's European operations will run out of money in the second quarter unless governments come quickly to the company's aid.

Meanwhile, workers' leaders from Opel held a meeting today to prepare for what they called "difficult negotiations" with GM's management.

German media are reporting that GM Europe is threatening to close three Opel plants and fire 11 000 people, one fifth of its workforce.

A joint statement said unions are looking "to arrange a positive future" for the carmaker's European locations. The statement was signed by Klaus Franz, chairman of Opel's works council, and union representatives from GM Europe GmbH and Opel's German factories.

A plan submitted to German government officials on Friday calls for the closure of factories at Bochum in western Germany, Eisenach in the east and Antwerp in northern Belgium, according to the weekly German magazine Der Spiegel.

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Original article from Automotive News (a Crain publication)