EU executive suggests General Motors crisis meeting

BRUSSELS, March 5 - The European Commission has offered to hold a meeting of European Union countries affected by General Motors, the ailing U.S. carmaker that warned on Thursday that its ability to survive was in doubt.

The EU's industry commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, suggested the meeting to the bloc's industry ministers at a scheduled meeting on Thursday.

"It would be good to have a meeting to coodinate the situation," Verheugen's spokesman said.

The EU executive is keen to have a coordinated response to crises to avoid unilateral measures that could have harmful repercussions elsewhere in Europe.

GM-related main 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.

"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.

EU industry ministers were due to agree on a statement that public support should be complementary to actions the car industry must take itself.

The industry has been hit by tumbling orders and a credit crunch that has made it hard for consumers to find loans to buy new cars.

Luc Chatel, a French government spokesman attending the Brussels meeting, said the joint statement did not go far enough to help the industry.

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

The EU's globalisation fund should be used to help the industry and schemes in some member states to encourage the scrapping of old cars should be harmonised across the bloc, Chatel told reporters.