Brussels  - The European Union's executive body on Friday hosted high-level talks between representatives of General Motors (GM) and politicians from EU states where GM has subsidiaries, in a bid to defuse the growing crisis over GM's financial troubles.

"First of all, we expect an update from GM representatives on their current plans. Secondly, we want the chance to sit down and discuss the situation with the other (EU) countries involved," Germany's junior economics minister, Jochen Homann, told reporters as he arrived at the talks.

Homann's boss, Karl-Theodor Guttenberg, is to travel to the US on Sunday, and Homann said that he hoped to be able to speak on behalf of all the EU member states involved, not just Germany.

The EU's industry, competition and employment commissioners invited GM's chief operating officer, Fritz Henderson, and the head of its European division, Carl Peter Forster, to Brussels to ask for more information on the troubled manufacturer's plans for its European operations.

Homann said that GM had proposed separating GM Europe from the rest of the group, but that the EU "will see" what happens.

The officials were joined by politicians from 11 EU member states which are home to GM factories or subsidiaries: Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Sweden.

GM has been hard hit by the global downturn in car sales. Last week, auditors warned that there were "substantial doubts" whether the iconic US manufacturer could survive the storm.

The firm has said that it could cut up to 47,000 jobs worldwide. That has raised serious concerns in Europe, where GM owns the brands Opel, Vauxhall and Saab - all of whose futures are now in doubt.

Friday's meeting is meant to "allow a direct and coordinated exchange of views with GM and to confirm that (EU) states will not take national measures without prior information and coordination with other involved countries," a press release issued by the European Commission in Brussels said. (dpa)