Local councillors seek EU support for UK automotive industry

Publication date: 29 April 2009

Local councillors from the UK have joined forces with their counterparts from across Europe to support the automotive industry as it struggles to survive in the current economic climate. The councillors, all members of the Brussels-based Committee of the Regions (CoR), the voice of local and regional authorities in Europe, are pushing for an EU-wide strategy to help the struggling automotive sector that will avoid companies from across the continent having to compete with each other for jobs as they did in the past.

The six English councillors represent regions with significant motor manufacturing industries: Sir Albert Bore from Birmingham City Council, Flo Clucas from Liverpool City Council, Martin Heatley from Warwickshire County Council, Doreen Huddart from Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council, Dave Quayle from Trafford Metropolitan Borough and Dave Wilcox from Derbyshire County Council. They have joined 47 local and regional councillors from the rest of Europe in a new cross-party group within the CoR focused on the automotive crisis.

Sir Albert Bore, a Labour councillor in Birmingham and former president of the Committee of the Regions, is vice-president of the cross-party group. "It is good that this cross-party group on the automotive crisis has been set up within the CoR so that the knowledge and expertise of local and regional authorities can be brought into play, alongside that of the automotive manufacturers, component manufacturers, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB)," he said.

"There is going to be major restructuring in the sector to deal with the current economic crisis and the sector's overcapacity, which was there even before the crisis. This means that there will be, inevitably, major redundancies and the loss of automotive plants and component manufacturers across the EU. If this happens, local and regional authorities will need to bring their knowledge and expertise into play to deal with the social impact, not only for the workforce but also for the wider community as a whole."

Flo Clucas, Lib Dem deputy leader of Liverpool City Council in charge of economic development and Europe, and leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the CoR, added: "What we are seeing is an important development. The car industry and all those companies that work within it, from delivery companies to insurance companies, will be the focus of our efforts. Working with other European councils through the Committee of the Regions will give us more strength than if we were working alone. We will fight for our jobs and our citizens together."

The cross-party group, which held its inaugural meeting on 22 April in Brussels, is an initiative of the Brittany region in northern France, whose president, Jean-Yves Le Drian, also chairs the group. "Local and regional authorities are a vital part of any measures designed to support the European car industry," said Jean-Yves Le Drian at the meeting on Wednesday. "We want to see a coordinated EU response to help the car-manufacturing industries in the regions, cities and local authorities we represent. There are several things that the EU can do, not least reducing the red tape to make sure the financial support already pledged to help the recovery can be spent more effectively where it is needed. Europe can also do more to support the development of next-generation 'green' vehicles, a sector of the market that is expected to show significant growth in the coming years."

Source: COR