EU executive says GM fails to inform

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive called for a meeting of member states affected by General Motors on Thursday, saying the ailing U.S. carmaker was not informing the bloc about its problems.

European carmakers already expect output this year to drop by a quarter on 2008 as recession bites, putting thousands of jobs at risk and piling pressure on governments to intervene.

Doubts over GM's future and the fate of its plants in Europe has deepened the sense of crisis.

"The way the American mother company is dealing with the issue of Europe is not acceptable," EU Industry Commissioner, Guenter Verheugen told a news conference after a meeting of EU industry ministers.

"Enough is enough. We expect GM to disclose everything. What are their plans with their European daughter companies and locations? What are they doing with property rights, and especially is GM prepared to maintain responsibility for the European companies or not?" Verheugen said.

He wants a "common analysis" of the GM crisis to avoid unilateral measures that could have harmful repercussions elsewhere in Europe.

GM-related production sites in the 27-nation EU include Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, Britain and Sweden but other countries are home to suppliers.

GM is seeking $30 billion in U.S. government aid to restructure outside of a court-supported bankruptcy process. GM shares fell 17 percent to $1.81 on Wall Street.

"That is so much money for a company that hasn't done what it should," Swedish Industry Minister Maud Olofsson told reporters on a visit to Brussels.

"GM haven't been a good owner," she said, referring to GM's Swedish unit Saab. "They haven't developed new cars or new technology. The best thing I could see is a new investor with a new business plan," Olofsson said.

The European Commission has approved state aid for the car industry in France and is expected to give the green light to similar schemes in Italy and Spain.

NO EU RESCUE PACKAGE

EU industry ministers agreed that public support should be complementary to actions the car industry must take itself and there would be no broad rescue plan.

"Everyone emphasized the main responsibility is on the automotive sector itself. It has to shoulder its responsibility," said Martin Riman, industry minister for the Czech EU presidency.

"It has to invest in better technology and deal with structural problems and overcapacity," Riman said.

Luc Chatel, a French government spokesman attending the Brussels meeting, said the ministers' statement fell short.

"We have to go further," Chatel told reporters. "We have to have a real, strategic vision for the industry."

Ministers agreed to his request to call on the Commission to use the EU's globalization fund to help the industry.

Ministers also called on the Commission to make more use of the EU's lending arm, the European Investment Bank to help but industry.

Verheugen said it was not possible to meet a request to harmonize national schemes that pay consumers to scrap their old cars and buy new fuel efficient ones.

He said governments must explain to their citizens that banks were being rescued as their failure threatened the economy while the same was not true if individual companies such as GM's Opel were in trouble.

"There is not a single euro in the European budget to rescue sectors or companies... There will be no sector specific rescue plans whatsovever. We are still in a market economy," he said.

GERMAN PLAN PROPOSED FOR GM EUROPE

Meanwhile the Chief Minister of Hesse federal state, where GM's Opel unit is based, has proposed a rescue plan for the whole of GM's European businesses.

A new company should bundle "all the European activities which have so far belonged to General Motors" and should be managed from Germany, Roland Koch said in an advance copy of an article which is due to appear in German newspaper Handelsblatt's Friday edition.

(Additional reporting by Pete Harrison; Editing by Greg Mahlich)