Some 5,000 Opel workers from Belgium and Germany rallied 24 September in Antwerp to protest against possible job cuts at General Motors' European plants. Participants included trade union officials from other European countries where Opel has factories, including Britain and Poland. A similar protest was held in the Spanish town of Zaragoza early last week. The peaceful protest in Antwerp produced a first result, with trade unionists saying first-ever talks with Opel's designated buyer, Magna International, would be taking place in Germany later this week. "Europe without Opel/Vauxhall is like a car without an engine," one banner on display in the Belgian city read. Magna has said that its restructuring plan envisages up to 11,000 job cuts on the continent, including 4,000 in Germany and more than 2,000 in Belgium, where the country's only Opel factory faces the threat of closure. More jobs could be axed at factories in Spain and at Opel's British arm, Vauxhall. Opel labour leader Klaus Franz called for a quick end to staffing and productivity talks, saying "We have no time to lose." Franz confirmed a workers' promise to save E 265 million ($392 million dollars) per year until 2014, but only on condition that there would be no forced layoffs and that no factories were closed. "The unions will not make the new Opel fail," Franz told Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). The German government is underwriting the Magna deal with E 4.5 billion ($6.6 billion) in loans and credit guarantees. But reports that Berlin may only provide financial aid if jobs are preserved in Germany have sparked angry responses from the European Union's single market watchdog, the European Commission. "State funding under the (EU's) Temporary Framework is meant to tackle the financing problems due to the credit crunch, and cannot be used to impose political constraints concerning the location of production activities within the internal market," the commission said in a statement 24 September. Officials in Brussels also warned that they were closely examining "indications that negotiations are taking place with a number of European governments concerning financial support linked to the number of workers finally retained by New Opel in each member state." "It can't be that one country finances a solution at the expense of others," EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told German ZDF state television earlier in the day.