NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat SpA, said he is "guardedly optimistic" that the European Union would take steps this week to help the euro regain its credibility.
Without detailing what those steps might be, Marchionne said there was a "better than 50 percent chance" that the EU would obtain the necessary consensus at its summit this week to shore up the currency.
"In the next 30 to 60 days, we should see the euro reacquiring credibility, reacquiring, certainly, support in the international financial markets to move forward," Marchionne told Reuters Insider on Tuesday.
This week is crucial for the health of the euro zone, with French and German leaders leading the charge to impose budget changes that will restore market confidence and prevent the sovereign debt crisis from escalating further.
FIAT (F.IT)has five money-losing plants in Italy. To compensate for the weakness in the European economy, the Italian automaker has relied on Chrysler to bolster profits, a complete reversal of expectations from two years earlier.
Marchionne added he is waiting for "a better line of sight" into the financial situation in Europe before resuming the regular pace of Fiat's investment and vehicle launch plans.
"These uncertainties have slowed down some of the processes that Fiat normally would have executed much faster for investments and for expansion activities in the euro zone," Marchionne said.
Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy protection in June 2009 under the management control of Fiat and with more than $7 billion in loans owed to the U.S. and Canadian governments.
Analysts at the time believed Chrysler would be the millstone around Fiat's neck. The U.S. automaker had changed owners three times in as many years and its vehicle line-up was starved of investment and widely mocked.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Paul Ingrassia in New York, editing by Matthew Lewis)
