The Government is aiming to find solutions with the national automotive components industry to overcome Autoeuropa's shutdown. The company announced a nine-week production stoppage at the Palmela factory, from September 11th to November 12th, due to the difficulties of a supplier in Slovenia which had been “severely affected” by the floods that occurred in the country in August.

The factory's management announced its intention to resort to lay-off during the production stoppage, but the Workers' Committee understands that the company is able to guarantee the income of all employees.

Since the beginning of the problem, the Government has maintained “contacts with the company's management” to “understand the causes” of the difficulties and find solutions. “As Portugal has an automotive components industry that is one of the most competitive and innovative in Europe, and which exports to multiple European countries, the Government, through the Ministry of Economy and the Sea, is making every effort to identify solutions within the scope of the national components industry”, explained the Ministry in a short statement sent to ECO.

“At the same time, we are identifying Autoeuropa’s national suppliers with the aim of meeting with companies in order to minimise the risks of factory shutdowns in the coming months,” adds the ministry led by António Costa Silva. “The Government is committed to finding the best solutions, at all levels, to minimize the impact of this production stoppage in one of the country's largest exporting companies”, he adds.

Autoeuropa, despite having announced the production stoppage from September 11th to November 12th, admitted that this period “could be reduced as the solution to the problem evolves”.

The Ministry of Economy considers this to be a good example of the need to diversify supply chains. “In the global uncertainty we are experiencing, which is also heightened by climate change with the occurrence of extreme phenomena, it is important to diversify supply chains and increase their resilience to prevent abrupt production stops”, adds the same note.