(ANSA) - Brussels, February 20 - European Competition
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has promised to be
"intransigent" on Embraco's moving 500 Italian jobs to Slovakia,
Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said after meeting her Tuesday.
He said the talks on a possible exemption from State-aid
rules had gone "well".
Vestager, he said, will hold a press conference Wednesday and
she has "a very clear view of the issue".
He said "she assured me that the Commission is very
intransigent in assessing cases flagged up where there is a
problem of the wrong or not permitted use of aid, or worse,
State aid to attract (business) by countries that are part of
the EU".
Earlier Calenda said he would ask Vestager later today for an
exemption from EU treaties on State aid to deal with the case of
Embraco, the US multinational Whirlpool unit that is sacking its
500 Italian employees as it moves production to Slovakia.
"There are structural conditions," that mean eastern European
countries have lower labour costs, he said.
"I couldn't frame a rule saying that labour costs should be
so much lower for Embraco, because that would be State aid. But
I think you can interpret the treaties to say that in this
specific case, of a firm moving to Slovakia, the norm may be
flouted.
"Let's see what Vestager's answer is".
Embraco on Monday refused to change plans to sack its 497
workers at Riva di Chieri near Turin, prompting Calenda to say
he would no longer "meet this scum".
Calenda had asked the Brazilian company to agree to use a
government layoff fund, but Embraco refused point blank.
An Embraco worker, Daniele Simoni, on Tuesday chained himself
to the factory gates.
"I don't want to give up, it's my factory that fed me for 25
years, as long as there's a chink of light I won't give up", he
said.
Vestager vows intransigence on Embraco (4)
Commissioner will give press conference Wed says industry min