Brussels neutral on carmaker overcapacity Europe's industry commissioner has ruled out a Brussels-led fix for the car industry's deepening crisis of excess capacity, ahead of a meeting with carmaking chief executives on Wednesday. Antonio Tajani said that the European Commission was "neutral" on how mass-market producers dealt with the problem, which has driven some carmakers to ask for Europe's help in undertaking politically sensitive factory closures. "Excess capacity is not within our action plan," Mr Tajani told the Financial Times on Monday. This is an issue for Fiat and Peugeot (but) it's not for Audi, BMW or Mercedes. Mr Tajani will on Wednesday preside at a meeting of the European Union's Cars 21 grouping, formed in 2005 to promote competitiveness for an industry that employs 12m people in Europe. Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's chief executive, will be attending along with Philippe Varin, CEO at PSA Peugeot-Citroën , Daimler's Dieter Zetsche, and Stephen Odell, CEO of Ford Motor's European arm. Mr Marchionne, who also holds the rotating head of Acea, the European carmakers" association, has led calls for an EU-led fix to the overcapacity issue, which he says requires a coordinated effort across national borders. However, Mr Tajani said that the overcapacity issue applied mainly to small cars made by Italian and French carmakers, not to larger ones made by their German competitors. "I am a European commissioner; I am not an Italian or French commissioner," he said. I am working for the European Commission and I want to work for the automotive sector. It is not my job to reduce the production, but we are ready to [help] restructure the sector. Mr Tajani said that he would support an increase in EU funds for innovation to support automakers from about €1bn in the current budget period to €1.5bn from 2014-2020. He said that Europe could also help the industry with funds for retraining workers. Mr Tajani's words are unlikely to offer much comfort to Mr Marchionne, who with Peugeot-Citroën's Mr Varin has urged Brussels to take the initiative in helping rationalise an industry that straddles national borders, as it did with steelmakers from 1980-1985. Carmakers are not seeking direct financial aid, but had hoped for political cover as they downsize their operations at a time when job cuts are sensitive. Europe's mass-market carmakers have about 20 per cent more plant capacity than they need and the glut of small cars has led to a round of discounting among all producers. Political and union pressure has prevented Europe-based carmakers from rationalising their operations. However, waning consumer confidence has brought the issue to a head this year. Car sales have fallen sharply in France and Italy. Indeed, Germany's market - Europe's largest and until recently still growing - fell by 4.8 per cent in May, according to data published on Monday. Carmakers have pressed Brussels to negotiate stricter conditions on free-trade agreements under discussion with Japan and India, which they fear could work against them. A free-trade pact with South Korea has helped Hyundai and Kia report higher sales and market share gains despite Europe's declining market.