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EUROPEAN UNION

EU says German aid could stymie Opel deal

The European Commission told the German government on Friday that its planned aid package for carmaker Opel could breach EU competition rules - and said US auto giant General Motors should be allowed to reconsider the sale of its German unit.

EU says German aid could stymie Opel deal
Photo:DPA

European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes wrote to German Economy Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg “expressing her concerns” on the aid, said a statement from the Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

The letter said there were “significant indications that aid promised by German Government to New Opel was subject to the pre-condition that a specific bidder, Magna/Sberbank, was selected to acquire a majority of the shares.”

“Commissioner Kroes explained that GM and the Opel Trust should be given the opportunity to reconsider the outcome of the bidding process on the basis of firm written assurances by the German authorities that the aid would be available, irrespective of the choice of investor or plan.”

Zu Guttenberg said on Saturday he did not think the sales talks would have to be repeated. Speaking during a break in coalition negotiations, he said, “I think we found the right answer.”

But cryptically, he also said he could understand why the Commission might want to go over things again. “There was possibly one or other statement over the last months which could be misunderstood. Not from me,” he said.

Canadian auto parts maker Magna International and Russian state lender Sberbank won a bid last month to buy a majority share of General Motors’ European unit Opel, which employs more than 50,000 people across the continent.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, keen to safeguard the jobs of Opel’s 25,000 German employees, agreed to sweeten the deal with €4.5 billion worth of public money.

She had been keen to secure a rescue deal after months of wrangling, before the parliamentary election on September 27. The preliminary agreement was signed on September 10. Merkel won the election and now has to try to make the deal stick.

The Berlin financing irritated many other European governments as it was contingent on other public money being added to the pot in other countries where Opel has plants, such as Britain, Spain, Poland and Belgium.

They are less than enthusiastic about stumping up cash to support a deal that they see as only guaranteeing German jobs and keeping German plants up and running.

With Opel losing money fast, dependent on a market where too many cars are being made for too few customers, Magna is reported to be looking to cut around 10,500 jobs.

Kroes said in her letter to zu Guttenberg that the “conditionality” of the German aid may have excluded “alternative plans foreseeing a different distribution of restructuring measures within the EU.”

Other bidders for Opel included Belgian investment fund RHJ International, Italian auto firm Fiat and China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC).

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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