Berlin turned in the wrong direction

Editorial comment

Ruling parties in Berlin must have prayed the new owners of General Motors Europe to demonstrate sufficient compassion and to await the parliamentary elections on September 27, before it announced its plans to restructure the bloated production lines of Opel. Were not so lucky. Shortly after GM transferred its European unit of the Canadian manufacturer of automotive segment Magna and Russian Sberbank, the buyers announced that within one year will lay off a fifth of the total 50-thousand European civil servants, including 4000 in Germany.
Should not be surprised to obvious problems in the automotive industry. As of March global sales in the sector were 20 percent below their peak levels, and the momentum of the programs that reward the delivery of old cars for scrap, will be temporary. Even after a strong recovery manufacturers will remain a huge overcapacity. Against this background, the sale of which only reinforces the Opel to be suppressed by reducing the need for jobs is samozabluzhdenie or simply attempt to zalazhat voters.
It is assumed that germanskoto government expects something in return granted € 4,5 billion in loans and guarantees, which aimed to ensure the triumph of Magna in the garage sale of GM. Other countries with the Opel plant definitely agrees. Chris Peters, Minister-President of the Belgian region of Flanders said that the facility in Antwerp, that Magna plans to close is less competitive than some of the four Germanic works that the company promised to maintain.
And rightly worried. Assurance of Siegfried Wolf, one of the chief executives of Magna, that restructuring will be led entirely by commercial considerations, it sounds funny, provided that the manufacturer accepts funding dependent on political decisions. With this money Germany is trying to push cuts jobs outside their borders and thereby penalizes other countries.
Such a game would not be useful for Europeans and their leaders know this. Often makes the Belgian, Spanish and British officials that have not yet attempted to offer a higher price from Germany to maintain its plants. Instead, they urged the Commission to ensure that Berlin did not violate the rules of the Single Market.
Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes has already raised the question whether Germany has used illegal means temporary relief of the state aid rules introduced for the financial crisis. Cruz now needs the strong support of the Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who recently seemed more concerned about his job than to protect the single market.
Cruz may have to wait until the morning of September 28, before Germany to listen to her words and then have to speak even more loudly.