EU: European Commission wants to prevent General Motors to start “racing for subsidies” among the States

Informal meeting. New round in the Opel case: an informal meeting will be held on Monday, November 23 at the European Commission, with the European Ministers for Economic Affairs and General Motors representatives to discuss about the case of the European subsidiary of the American carmaker. This meeting is presented as an informal gathering to talk and exchange information. Very surprisingly, GM announced, earlier this month, that it didn’t want to sell Opel to the Canadian car part maker Magna. However, this was the solution defended by unions and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was planning a major subsidy to help the company’s restructuring in Germany. The German subsidy angered other countries where Opel is present – Belgium, Spain and the UK –, afraid that Berlin’s intervention to save German job would lead to closing other European sites.
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the Canadian car part maker Magna. However, this was the solution defended by unions and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was planning a major subsidy to help the company’s restructuring in Germany. The German subsidy angered other countries where Opel is present – Belgium, Spain and the UK –, afraid that Berlin’s intervention to save German job would lead to closing other European sites.

Economic criteria. Yet, the issue of aids to restructuring is still a major problem between the Member

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