Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-25-Speech-1-093"
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"en.20041025.14.1-093"2
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"Mr President, as a number of colleagues have said, this is nothing new. The car industry is probably one of the most competitive manufacturing industries of any that we deal with. There are over ten major manufacturers producing cars in Europe and spending billions on research and development. It is a competitive market. There will inevitably be changes. I want to remind colleagues that three years ago one of GM's major plants in the United Kingdom was closed. I will read a headline from today's
which I picked up on the plane on my way here this morning: 'Car output near record levels'. It is likely that in the United Kingdom this year we will produce a record number of cars. That record was last broken in 1972. The message to the many people who are facing uncertainty in Rüsselsheim, Bochum and Trollhättan – and I have been to some of those plants – is that there is life after restructuring. That is why the United Kingdom car industry is doing relatively well. I am not complacent about it, but it is a fact. We should be reflecting on why General Motors tells us that it needs to save EUR 500 million a year in costs to make itself competitive. I am sure it can justify those figures.
We need to work together. That is the message that needs to go out. It is impossible to achieve record levels of car output in the United Kingdom with, in many plants, quality and productivity levels that are the best in Europe, without working between managers and the workforce and with dealers and customers. As mentioned in Mr Rehn's statement this afternoon, we must encourage the Commission to look at the competitive conditions.
We do not want an industrial plan for the car industry. We do not want the Commission or politicians telling car companies what to do. We are in a competitive market. But that EUR 500 million will go into the cleaner, safer cars that Europe's consumers want. That is the change that is needed."@en1
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"Birmingham Post,"1
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