Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 21-Nov-2008 20:49 hrs
The Ford Motor Company logo outside a car dealership in Hudson, Wisconsin, United States, July 2008. The European Union should make around 40 billion euros (50 billion dollars) in loans available to the continent's ailing auto sector, the head of Ford Germany said in comments published Friday.
The European Union should make around 40 billion euros (50 billion dollars) in loans available to the continent's ailing auto sector, the head of Ford Germany said in comments published Friday.
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Bernhard Mattes said such assistance would not be state aid but was "in order to allow all European carmakers the possibility to meet EU requirements on fuel efficiency and emissions etc more quickly."
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"This is money that has interest on it and that has to be paid back, so not a gift," Mattes was quoted as saying in the German daily Bild. "It is about modern technology and competitiveness on the world market."
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The EIB, the European Union's lending arm, said Monday it would propose to finance ministers that it increase its lending volume by 20-30 percent to 10-15 billion euros, part of which would be earmarked to help the transport industry.
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The proposals came after data showed new car sales in Europe, where Ford is number three in terms of market share, plunging 14.5 percent as the global financial crisis plunged the eurozone into recession.
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The heads of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler pleaded with US lawmakers this week for a multi-billion dollar rescue for their crippled industry but Democrats put off a vote until at least December and told them to come up with a new restructuring plan.
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In Germany, executives from GM's Opel unit asked Chancellor Angela Merkel to provide loan guarantees of over one billion euros to keep it afloat if its parent company goes bankrupt. Merkel said Berlin would decide by Christmas.
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Opel employs 26,000 people in Germany, where one in seven jobs is estimated to be dependent directly or indirectly on the auto industry. — AFP
