Asleep at the wheel - Ford cuts jobs in Europe, the EU's bank delivers for Ford in Turkey

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has come under fire in recent weeks thanks to a loan granted to Ford Europe. The EU’s bank signed off on a EUR 200 million loan to the car giant for the company’s relocation of production to Turkey not long after Ford Europe announced the shutdown of its production sites in Genk, Belgium, and Southampton in England.

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As reported by European media, the EIB’s support for Ford in Turkey, coming just as the company cut around 4,500 jobs in Belgium and England, has been slammed by European parliamentarians and the European Commission alike. How the EIB coordinates its lending in line with European interests has been put in the spotlight, a long-abiding concern of NGOs such as Bankwatch and Counter Balance.

The EIB’s Turkish deal for Ford was deemed egregious enough to warrant debate between MEPs and the European Commission in a European Parliament plenary on November 20. Accroding to Peter Skinner, a UK MEP with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats grouping, the European Commission should “wake up and decide what the EIB can and cannot do”.

László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, is reported to have recognised this inconsistency and the need for better coordination with the EIB. Responding to MEPs, Andor apparently intends to study EIB decision-making over its lending more closely and to discuss how the bank reaches its financing decisions.

Commissioner Andor could of course start by asking a basic question: why is the EIB lending a large amount of money to a corporation whose parent company is posting billion dollar profits, while European companies big and small are – let’s not mince words – blowing a gasket across the board?