Nel mentre, la Francia predispone un pacchetto di aiuti per la (propria) industira nazionale... Si tratta di 6 mld euro (che si aggiungono ad altre iniziative per importi minori precedentemente varate), erogati a condizione, fra l'altro, che non vengano chiusi impianti produttivi allocati in Francia.
Sulle modalità di intervento finanziario non sono state date indicazioni precise: si sa solo per ora che, a fronte del sostegno accordato, i produttori che ricevono i finanziamenti pubblici devono impegnarsi a non pagare dividendi ai loro azionisti finché fruiscono degli aiuti.
PS: si chiede anche che il management rinunci a percepire bonus...
Un dispaccio AFP
French carmakers to get six billion euros in rescue plan: PM
2 days ago
PARIS (AFP) — France on Tuesday announced an aid package of up to six billion euros for struggling car makers as the head of Renault warned that the European auto industry needed quick action to save it from collapse.
The state aid plan was announced by Prime Minister Francois Fillon at a meeting with executives from car manufacturers and suppliers along with union leaders to address the industry crisis.
"Our effort in favour of manufacturers will be massive. What are we talking about? Sums of the order of five or six billion euros," (7.7 billion dollars) he told the gathering.
But Fillon warned that in return car makers must keep jobs in France and that "there is no question of the state helping a manufacturer that decides to simply close one or several production sites in France."
He gave no indication of how the money would be spent, but details of the French government's broader auto sector rescue plan were due to be revealed by early next month.
Facing collapsing demand, Renault, PSA Peugeot Citroen and their suppliers -- who between them employ 10 percent of the French workforce -- have slashed production and shed thousands of jobs as they struggle to stay afloat in the global economic downturn.
Renault's chief executive Carlos Ghosn warned at Tuesday's meeting that "it is imperative to act quickly to ensure the survival of the French and European automobile industry."
"The amount of aid granted ... is not yet enough to meet the elementary needs of the industry," said Ghosn, who is also president of the pan-European carmakers' body ACEA.
A number of EU governments -- including Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden -- are planning or considering measures to help the European automobile industry, which saw the weakest sales in 15 years in 2008 with new car registrations plunging eight percent.
Last month the European Commission temporarily eased rules for government support of struggling companies after coming under fierce fire from member states for applying them too strictly in the midst of financial crisis.
"Public sector intervention is justified and even indispensable," the EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told Tuesday's meeting, but he also warned state aid should not give firms an unfair competitive advantage.
Verheugen also said he would contact President Barack Obama's US administration to make sure American aid for the auto industry is "compatible with the rules set by the World Trade Organisation."
In the United States, major car makers General Motors and Chrysler have been given billions of dollars in federal loans to save them from collapse.
French Industry Minister Luc Chatel told Le Figaro newspaper Monday that the state might take stakes in car makers in exchange for providing financial support for the sector that directly or indirectly employs 2.5 million people.
The state already owns a 15-percent share in Renault.
French auto manufacturers have also been warned that they should forego paying a dividend to shareholders if they expect taxpayers to fund state assistance.
With car production in France down by 10 percent in the first nine months of 2008, companies have come under fire for operating factories abroad: Renault's popular Twingo is built in Slovenia and the Peugeot 107 city car in Slovakia.
The car industry here is Europe's second biggest automobile sector after that of Germany.
Japan's Toyota, American giant General Motors and Germany's Daimler AG all have plants in France and may be eligible to tap into the state assistance, said Chatel.
After bailing out banks to the tune of 40 billion euros, the French government has repeatedly said it will take measures to prevent the auto industry from becoming a casualty of the economic slowdown.