Brussels, 12/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - Reacting, in a press release published on 12 May, to recent developments on possible national support measures for the restructuring of General Motors Europe, European Commissioners Günter Verheugen (Industry), Neelie Kroes (Competition) and Vladimir Špidla (Employment and Social Affairs), urge the governments of the member states involved to comply with Community rules on state aid. While welcoming the efforts made by these countries, the commissioners stress the need for coordinated action across the European car industry fully observing state aid and internal market rules, and point out the responsibility of companies in the sector in this crisis. The commissioners point out that all member states that took part in the informal ministerial meeting on the GM Europe situation in Brussels on 13 March agreed to ensure that no national measures should be taken without prior information and coordination with the Commission and other countries involved (see EUROPE 9862). “National support measures have to fully comply with EC Treaty state aid and internal market rules. … New state aid measures must be notified to the European Commission before their implementation and cannot be subject to additional conditions contrary to internal market rules. For instance, state aid aiming to facilitate access to finance in the current crisis and fulfilling the requirements of the relevant temporary framework cannot be subject to additional non-commercial conditions concerning the location of investments and/or the geographic distribution of restructuring measures” the press release says.
It goes on, “While the EU should aim at keeping as many people as possible in jobs, national aid measures within this framework must not affect the freedom of manufacturers to develop their activities in the internal market, and in particular should not prevent manufacturers from adapting their production capacities to market developments, in conformity with the applicable labour law”. The three Commissioners also underline that the implementation of necessary structural reforms is very important to strengthen the automotive industry's competitiveness and to create the right conditions for sustainable jobs.