Belgium to bend Merkel's ear on Opel: Flanders official
(BRUSSELS) - Belgium will raise the restructuring of auto maker Opel at a European Union summit on Thursday amid a row over German state aid, the head of the country's Flanders regional government said Wednesday.
"I don't have an agenda for tomorrow, but I think it will certainly be a subject for discussion, informally and perhaps formally," Flanders minister-president Kris Peeters told reporters.
He said he had talked earlier with Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, hoping he would pass a message to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
An Opel plant in Belgium is now seen under threat in the planned sale of Opel by General Motors to a consortium led by Magna International of Canada.
Speaking after meeting EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, Peeters said a formal complaint for an investigation into allegations the German aid was protectionist was being considered.
"We are looking into that," he said.
Officials are still waiting for a series of reports on Magna's planned takeover of Opel and the rest of GM's Europe division, which employs 50,000 people in several European countries.
Peeters added that Kroes had promised a "severe" examination of the case and that if she found "political factors" had been at work, "there would be a very strong and very clear conclusion."
Belgium has stepped up its offensive against German state aid to Opel's planned new owners, demanding that the slightest hint of protectionism be slapped down by European competition authorities.
Merkel's government, which faces a general election next weekend and had backed Magna's offer as embodying the best future for 25,000 workers on its territory, offered 4.5 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) of aid.
Peeters fears that an Opel plant in Antwerp, northern Belgium, which employs around 2,700 people, is to be sacrificed after Magna's co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf said it planned to cut 10,500 posts.
GM hopes to sign off on the sale in October, its chief executive Fritz Henderson said Wednesday.
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