Brussels - European Union member states which host subsidiaries to General Motors on Friday closed ranks to protect jobs on their territory after talks with the firm, vowing to coordinate all their actions rather than going it alone.

The ministers of 12 EU member states linked to GM and its subsidiaries "agreed to ensure that no national measures should be taken without prior information and coordination with other involved countries," a statement from the EU's executive, the European Commission, which hosted the talks, said.

The ministers were invited to Brussels by the EU's industry, competition and employment commissioners for talks with GM's chief operating officer, Fritz Henderson, and the head of its European division, Carl Peter Forster.

The talks represent a bid by European states to find out from GM what its plans are for its European factories and subsidiaries.

"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.

Homann was accompanied by ministers from Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden, as well as officials from other EU states.

The meeting initially heard a report on GM's situation and plans from its officials. Once they had left, the ministers discussed how they should deal with the situation.

The EU representatives called for "a coherent and coordinated political approach towards the European automotive industry, bearing in mind its primary entrepreneurial responsibility in a social market economy," the commission statement said.

That line was first agreed earlier in the month after a bitter debate between member states on how best to save Europe's battered auto industry - a row which at one point threatened to swamp the EU's single market in a tide of national protectionist measures.

Commission officials on Friday "reminded (member states of) the need to fully respect EU rules, including state aid, and to protect the internal market, which was acknowledged," in a bid to make sure the row did not break out afresh.

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.

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