The prospect of a European rescue for General Motors (GM), including the Opel Antwerp plant, started to look distant last week when the Detroit-based parent company announced losses in Europe of €2.2 billion. Governments in Germany and in Flanders had been led to believe that GM would announce a business plan on 31 March which would allow them to evaluate the chances of a state-supported rescue.

Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters led a high-level delegation to Detroit for talks with GM and Ford (which has a manufacturing plant in Genk). Following the meeting with GM, Peeters could say no more than that “no decision has yet been taken to close Opel Antwerp”. A more positive sign that the plant might be saved did not emerge from the meeting.

Labour minister Frank Vandenbroucke, meanwhile, pointed out that the company had given the governments more time. “We have to be careful not to raise too many hopes, but it gives us more time to work on a proposal with the Germans,” Peeters reported. GM had promised to make its plans clear by 31 March.

According to the plan, agreed by the Opel board and announced by President of GM Europe Carl-Peter Forster, Opel Europe would require €6.3 billion in aid to allow it to stand on its own two feet until an expected revival of the market in 2011. GM would contribute €3 billion of that, while the European governments would provide the remaining €3.3 billion.

The company would also need to make €950 million in cuts, which unions believe could be carried out without plant closures or forced redundancies. In contrast to other ideas floated, the Opel plan does not involve a complete break with Detroit. Although European Opel would be self-sufficient, GM would continue to hold a partial share, said Forster, while looking for “alliances, shareholdings and other connections” from external partners such as governments.

Antwerp’s future

Peeters is keen to make sure that Flanders maintains a strong negotiating position. On Friday he sent a letter from New York to the representatives of the four German Länder (regions) with GM factories inviting them to meet as quickly as possible. “If [Germany] gives the green light to a stand-alone Opel, it’s enormously important for the Antwerp factory that Flanders be involved in the discussions as early as possible,” he said.

Antwerp’s future seems to lie in the area of research and development – and eventually production – of green cars. But while that might provide a reason to keep the plant open, it is unlikely to be enough to save all of the jobs at risk.

GM plans to cut 47,000 jobs worldwide, with 27,000 of them outside the US. The European car market, meanwhile, is suffering from severe overcapacity. The ABVV union representative at Opel, Rudi Kennes, has gone so far as to admit that even in a best-case scenario, costs and jobs will have to be pruned.

“We have two main demands,” Kennes said. “No factories to close and no forced redundancies. But jobs will be lost, through early retirement or golden handshakes. Anyone who believes the opposite will have to be some kind of magician.”

In Germany last week, 15,000 people took part in a demonstration in Rüsselheim, where Opel has its European head office. With its five GM plants, Germany has taken the lead in examining the proposal to hive off European operations into a stand-alone entity. Estimates of how big the bill for that would be ranged from €3.3 billion to €9 billion – the latter figure being described by Opel itself as “absurd”. In fact, Opel’s own figure fell neatly between the two extremes.

According to the EU Commissioner for industry, Günter Verheugen, turning European GM into a stand-alone concern is “not as simple as some people think”. And while the Commission was concerned about protecting jobs, he said, the company could not count on unconditional support from governments, as state support is strictly controlled by EU law.

• Meanwhile Belgium’s man in Washington, Ambassador Jan Matthijsen, played down a row between Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters and federal foreign minister Karel De Gucht as “a storm in a teacup”. De Gucht was reported to have reacted furiously to criticisms made by Peeters that Belgian diplomats in the US could have done more to keep his government informed about the situation with GM. The notion of a separate Flemish representative, floated briefly by Peeters, was quickly stifled. Peeters was in New York, following his visit to Detroit, to open Flanders House, which will promote Flemish business and culture in the US.