Government contacts Autoeuropa and national suppliers to “find solutions”

The Economy Ministry announced this Monday that it has contacted the administration of Autoeuropa to “find solutions” after the interruption in production, and that it is identifying national suppliers in order to “minimize the risks of a plant shutdown”.

“The government, through the Ministry of Economy and the Sea, is making every effort to find solutions within the national component industry,” the government department said in response to Luce.

The Ministry of Economy says it has been in contact with the administration of the Volkswagen Group plant in Palmela “from the very beginning” in order to “understand the causes of these difficulties and find solutions.”

The Working Committee (CT) of Autoeuropa said on Thursday that the company will suspend production for nine weeks, from September 11 to November 12, and that it intends to apply the “layoff” during this period.

The stoppage of production at Autoeuropa is due to the difficulties of a supplier from Slovenia, which was “strongly affected” by the weather conditions that were felt in this country in August last year.

The ministry, led by António Costa Silva, stresses that Portugal’s auto parts industry is “one of the most competitive and innovative in Europe” and is exported to many countries on the continent.

Thus, he adds that he is identifying national suppliers to Autoeuropa “in order to meet with companies in order to minimize the risks of shutting down the plant in the coming months.”

Warning that global uncertainty is also “manifested by climate change” as a result of extreme events, the Ministry of Economy emphasizes the importance of ensuring that “supply chains are diversified and resilient to prevent sudden production shutdowns.”

On Saturday, the Automotive Industries Association (AFIA) said it was making “contacts with the government” to try to ease the impact of a nine-week shutdown at Autoeuropa.

“The association is also in contact with the government to try to find measures to try and lessen the impact of the stop in production of Volkswagen Autoeuropa,” AFIA General Secretary Adan Ferreira told Luse.

This Monday, the Confederation of Enterprises of Portugal (CIP) also called on the government to support the nine-week shutdown of Autoeuropa production and take the necessary decisions to protect the company and the economy of the Setúbal region.

“CIP urges the government to monitor this situation [na Autoeuropa] we are carefully looking for solutions that will best protect the company and all economic activities in the Setúbal region,” reads a statement released this Monday by the business confederation.

“It is equally important that the administrative procedures that Autoeuropa will have to initiate are streamlined to deal with this forced shutdown of workers with minimal impact,” adds the document, in which the CIP believes that the suspension of production at Autoeuropa is combined “with the stagnation of the national economy.” and the cooling of the European Union.

Despite announcing a stop to production from September 11 to November 12, Autoeuropa acknowledges that this period “may be shortened as the solution to the problem develops.”