Swedes support their government in rejecting GM's plea for government funding of Saab drama
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Senior European Editor
Amsterdam Bureau
The Auto Channel
STOCKHOLM, February 23, 2009; After the Swedish government rejected to meet General Motors’ plea for government funding for Saab, emotions ran high today during a televised debate between Sweden’s Industry Minister Maud Olofsson and Jan Åke Jonsson, CEO of Saab Automobile.
Olofsson said last week to be deeply disappointed in GM: “They have removed their hands from Saab and are handing over responsibility to the Swedish tax payers.”
GM is putting the pressure up on other countries as well, Britain, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Thailand by stating it needs some $6 billion dollar in support to provide liquidity for its operations in those countries. Saab entered a court-supervised restructuring on Friday in an effort to stave off bankruptcy*).
In the meantime, the Swedes generally support the government’s refusal to rescue Saab. Half of respondents to a survey by the Sifo polling firm think that the Swedish government should not intervene to save Saab. Only one third of the respondents of the survey want the government to offer billions to the car manufacturer, according to the results published in the Aftonbladet newspaper, last week.
The outcome also showed that of the 1,000 people interviewed on Wednesday night following a decision GM to abandon the Swedish brand, young people are most positive toward the idea of supporting Saab with public money.
Around 40 percent of Swedes between the ages of 15- and 29-years-old think that the government should take action.
Among respondents over 65-years-old, only 20 percent support a taxpayer funded rescue.
In another survey carried out by the Demoskop polling firm for the Expressen newspaper, 70 percent said they don’t believe the Swedish state should provide Saab with economic support.
The Demoskop poll results are based on responses from an online panel of 550 people, a slight majority of which also believe that Saab will manage to survive its present crisis.
*) File for reorganisation is no Chapter 11. The reorganization is a legal process in Sweden. It allows Saab to reorganize into a fully independent business. In the meantime the company can be ran as before. The reorganization is self-managed and headed by an independent administrator appointed by the court. He who will work closely with the Saab management team.
As part of the process, Saab will formulate its proposal for reorganization, which will include the concentration of design, engineering and manufacturing in Sweden. This proposal will be presented to creditors within three weeks of the filing.
Pending court approval, the reorganization will be executed over a three-month period and will require independent funding to succeed.
More about Saab: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/02/21/440526.html