PSA - Dopo il 2014 rischio chiusura per Aulnay-sous-Bois

[RS6plus]

Per Hollande il piano PSA è inaccettabile e non sarà accettato

French President says PSA job cut plan is not acceptable

July 14, 2012 10:34 CET

UPDATED: July 14 20:20 CET

PARIS (Bloomberg) -- President Francois Hollande said PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's decision to close a factory and cut an additional 8,000 jobs is unacceptable and that he will lean on Europe's second-biggest carmaker to renegotiate the plan.

PSA will shut the first auto plant in France in 20 years and cut a total of 14,000 jobs in an effort to stem widening operating losses, CEO Philippe Varin said July 12.

The French state can't be "indifferent" to PSA's decision and the government will press the company to amend the plan while considering measures to bolster sales of cars made by local automakers, Hollande said Saturday on national television.

Peugeot, which announced 6,000 job cuts last year, delayed the jobs announcement by several months until after the elections, he said.

"The plan in the current state is not acceptable, it won't be accepted," Hollande said.

Peugeot will stop production at its 39-year-old factory in Aulnay, on the outskirts of Paris, in 2014 and focus the building of small cars at a nearby plant in Poissy, it has said. The Paris-based company will also lower production at a plant in Rennes to slash operational costs.

Peugeot's Aulnay plant could continue to exist as an industrial site, Hollande said.

PSA is not the only firm making cuts. Air France-KLM Group is eliminating more than 5,000 slots. Drugmaker Sanofi may reduce staff by more than 2,000. Economists say more mass firings are likely as growth grinds to a halt.

"There's going to be an avalanche of job cuts and the expectations of public opinion are huge," said Jerome Fouquet, a director of pollster Ifop in Paris, who says that unemployment is the top concern among voters. "This puts the government in a very difficult position."

PSA CEO Philippe Varin said in an interview on RTL radio Saturday that he was ready to "open the books" to the government to show French labor costs are too high. Another round of car-scrapping incentives isn't the answer, Varin said.

No growth

The French economy, Europe's second biggest, failed to grow in the first three months of the year. The Bank of France estimates that it probably shrank in the second quarter for the first time since 2009.

The number of people looking for work in France was 2.92 million in May, more than at any time since 1999. The unemployment rate is 10 percent.

"What's happening at PSA doesn't take us by surprise," Hollande said in an interview published by French newspaper Le Monde. "It's not up to me to call a meeting at the Elysee Palace," his residence and office. "It's the role of the concerned ministers to be socially involved."

The job losses expose French voters to the economic hammer that has already fallen on their southern neighbors in Spain -- where almost a quarter of the work force is unemployed -- as well as bailed-out economies in Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Declining support

Support for Hollande, who took office on May 15, has dropped 7 points in the past month to 56 percent, according to an Ifop poll published July 11. The survey of 1,005 voters has a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.

"President Hollande needed this like he needed a hole in the head," said Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London. "There's already mounting pressure on the government to pursue more business-friendly policies. This is not going to help matters."

The CGT union at the Aulnay factory that Peugeot plans to close has called on the government to intervene. Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said the government doesn't "accept the plan as it is."

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called the closing and work force reductions a "true shock." Still, any attempt to block the cuts in the short term may backfire, economists and executives said.

"France has to remember that it's in a globalized world and it has competitors," said Frederic Gonand, a professor of economics at Paris Dauphine University and former finance ministry official. "The government shouldn't do things that will discourage investment."

Sales slump

PSA, Renault, France's No. 2 carmaker, and Italy's Fiat S.p.A. have posted the biggest sales declines this year in Europe, where PSA expects the market to contract 8 percent.

Moody's Investors Service in March was the last of the three main credit-reporting companies to cut PSA's debt rating to junk.

"Peugeot is struggling with the power of Volkswagen, especially on the credit side, as VW benefits from lower costs of financing," said Kristina Church, a Barclays analyst in London with an "underweight/neutral" rating on its shares. "More importantly, Peugeot still has an issue with overcapacity and is in a worse position than Renault."

Peugeot's first-half deliveries slumped 13 percent compared with a 10 percent increase at Volkswagen AG's namesake brand in the period. VW is Europe's largest automaker.

[luellor]

Non capisco come in Francia si possa parlare apertamente di incentivi all'acquisto di auto nazionali, mentre in Italia questa opzione è un tabù..

Ma le leggi sugli aiuti di Stato e sul libero mercato in Europa cosa dicono?

[Cosimo]

I francesi se ne sono già sbattuti una volta del divieto europeo. Lo stesso sviluppo dell'EV è stato fortemente incentivato a livello statale. Atteggiamento tipico franzoso dove tutta l'industria diventa "strategica" alla bisogna.

[Guest EC2277]

Le normative europee sugli aiuti statali dicono: «NO!», ma come ha già detto Cosimo è possibile aggirarle mascherandole da sovvenzioni per lo sviluppo di tecnologie "eco-compatibili".

[accul]

Non capisco come in Francia si possa parlare apertamente di incentivi all'acquisto di auto nazionali, mentre in Italia questa opzione è un tabù..

Ma le leggi sugli aiuti di Stato e sul libero mercato in Europa cosa dicono?

in italia il settore è totalmente privato, in francia invece in parte è in mano pubblica

[fonzino1]

Anche in Germania, parte dell'industria è in mano statale (vedi gruppo VW nel cui CDA siedono dirigenti del land della Sassonia).

Ridendo e scherzando, alla fine della fiera, l'Italia è quella che, per una volta, presenta zero conflitti di interesse in un campo dell'economia.

[luellor]

Ridendo e scherzando, l'Italia è sempre quella che la prende in quel posto..

E che soprattutto non si oppone a scelte del genere!!

Perchè se una cosa così succedesse in Italia, avremmo file chilometriche di politicanti europei a volerci bacchettare..

[fonzino1]

Ridendo e scherzando, l'Italia è sempre quella che la prende in quel posto..

E che soprattutto non si oppone a scelte del genere!!

Perchè se una cosa così succedesse in Italia, avremmo file chilometriche di politicanti europei a volerci bacchettare..

[Giò]

Ragazzi per me bisogna solo capire che attualmente in europa abbiamo un bel 30%

di produzione e che con lìandamento economico attuale la cosa è destinata solo ad

aumentare.

[justjames]

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"l'acq' è ppoc' e 'a paper' nnu' gallegg' cchiu'").

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