Word: europeanate
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...decision to back out of the sale of its European operations this week was a huge embarrassment for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She had thrown her weight behind the bid by the Canadian-Austrian car-parts maker Magna and its Russian partner, Sberbank, to buy Opel and Vauxhall from the beginning, seeing it as the best way to save German jobs and offering both sides billions of dollars in loan guarantees to grease the wheels. Before GM made its sudden U-turn on Nov. 3, Merkel had also been riding high. She was coming off an electoral victory in September...
...loans the government had previously promised to Magna to seal the deal. The pledge had raised alarm bells in Britain, Belgium and Spain, where leaders feared that Germany was trying to curry favor with Magna and that their countries would bear the brunt of any job losses. When the European Commission said last month that it would launch an inquiry into whether Germany had been in breach of E.U. competition rules, Berlin told Brussels that such state aid would be available to any investor - not just Magna. Theoretically, this means that GM can apply for some of the money...
...their anger at the aborted sale. Roland Koch, governor of the state of Hesse, told the workers that GM couldn't be trusted and that he would fight to save every German job. The strike coincided with GM's announcement that it would shed 10,000 positions at its European plants, roughly the same number of jobs that Magna had planned to cut. GM did not say where the cuts would fall. The company employs 7,000 people in Spain, 5,500 in Britain, 3,900 in Sweden, 3,600 in Poland and 2,600 in Belgium...
...Metall union, which represents about 3 million autoworkers and electrical and engineering employees, says it won't back down from that demand. But now that the Magna deal is dead, the unions don't have much leverage. They are worried that Germany could suffer more job losses than other European countries because the carmaker won't be obliged to protect German workers...
...billion in state aid that Germany had offered to Magna. Union leaders want the government to stand firm and not send any German taxpayer money across the Atlantic. But the car giant is prepared to play hardball too, reminding German workers that the insolvency of its entire European operation is still an option. "Failure to reach the restructuring that is needed would result in the operation becoming insolvent - that would be an unnecessary and undesirable outcome for everyone," says Karin Kirchner, a spokeswoman for GM in Zurich. (Read " 'Much Work' Ahead for German Chancellor Merkel...