General Electric's European boss Fernando Beccalli warns a No vote would see Republic missing out on a major business opportunity in Eastern Europe. Arthur Beesley reports

Irish voters should support the Nice Treaty to avoid missing opportunities from the expansion of the European Union and the integration of its members, according to General Electric, one of the world's largest companies.

The European head of the company, an employer of 300,000 people, including 2,000 staff in Ireland, said another No vote would be a mistake because the Republic might miss out on the opportunities presented by the creation of larger trading block.

Mr Fernando Beccalli, an Italian, said the expansion of the single market by 500 million people from eastern Europe presented a bigger business opportunity than the opening of the Chinese market. The euro's introduction was not the end-point of integration in the EU and there was potential for greater unity, he said.

The president and chief executive of GE Europe is among the most senior international business figures to endorse accepting the Treaty.

While multinationals are quietly supportive of the Yes campaign, they generally decline to comment publicly on domestic political issues.

Not Mr Beccalli (52), who became boss of GE Europe in January after 27 years in the company. He sees Nice through the prism of the "wealth-creation machine" he works for.

He said: "We hope that Ireland will be able to pass the treaty and be an integral part of Europe like everybody else. That's our wish. We wouldn't want the Irish people and the Irish resources that we have to miss out on this wonderful opportunity."

While the availability of good workers and a positive taxation and legal climate were crucial to GE's Irish business, he said the EU dimension had been "very, very important" in developing the economy as a nexus between the European and US markets.

Sprite in manner and one of three Europeans in the 30-strong top management group at GE, Mr Beccalli is a high-end operator accustomed to the needs of investors and employers. GE's globe-sprawling operations include aircraft and energy engineering, domestic appliances, consumer credit and a heap more. Irish divisions include the loan company GE Capital Woodchester, the aviation financing firm GECAS, and GE Superabrasives, a maker of synthetic diamonds for industrial use.

Managing these diverse interests is a long way from the career in car racing that Mr Beccalli wanted as a child, but he is fond of his work.

In London before a meeting this week in Dublin with GE customers, Mr Beccali said his first trip abroad was to Ireland in 1967. He learned English in Dublin, hoarding Beatles and Monkees records because they were not yet available at home in Turin.

Ever the moderniser, Mr Beccalli sees more opportunities than threats in the expansion of the EU. He accepted that a second rejection of Nice would not prompt Ireland's exit from the EU. Still, that did not imply that there would be no negative consequences because those in a looser federation would gain less than those in the most advanced group.

"Today Europe is forming, Europe is uniting," Mr Beccalli said. "If any country is out of this centre of attraction, this centre of gravity of activities which is becoming the united Europe - not having the same currency, not having the same kind of free trade in that level playing field that all the other countries have - it's going to be difficult to grow the economy."

Mr Beccalli joined GE in 1975. The company was then the bellwether of corporate America with origins in the 1890s linked to the inventor Thomas Edison. Now it is a global giant, long a darling of investors and commentators with ever-growing profits and an AAA credit rating. Revenues last year were $125.9 billion and net earnings were $14.1 billion.

But if dedication to standard-setting and mottos such as "outperformance in every cycle" and "boundaryless business" are all part of the GE legend, the downturn has been as unforgiving as the boom was good. The stock is trading in the $25 per share region, down from $60 in the middle of 2000. With that in mind, GE's fondness for conceptualising the business seems moot.

Mr Beccalli said: "The share price is down as is the share price of many, many other companies in the world. The problem we have, which is something we do not understand is that we continue to deliver results and the share goes down, which is a pity. But the only thing we can is continue to deliver results."

The company is not in the Enron bankruptcy club, but its share price has suffered amid tougher scrutiny of its books. Into the frame came questions about its smooth earnings performance - it missed a target only twice in the past 10 years - and unhappiness with the degree of disclosure in its accounts, which many analysts regarded as opaque. Certain commentators feel that only a handful of individuals at the very top can really know the exact situation of a company of GE's size and diversity.

But Mr Beccalli said there was nothing to hide. "People ask for more clarity, we give them more clarity. People ask for more information, we offer them more information. We had an annual report which is much more complete and much more comprehensive than the reports which went before. We have opened up with more information for analysts and \ Street and with investors. I'm spending time with European investors to explain what is happening the business."

So what then of the highly generous retirement package enjoyed by GE's retired boss, Mr Jack Welch? It emerged in divorce court filings that the company was funding a luxurious lifestyle for its former boss, picking up the tab for country club fees, a swish Manhattan apartment toiletries, wine, flights on the company jet, and tennis and opera tickets.

Mr Welch might well portray himself as the most admired businessman of his generation, but the package suggested he was flouting his own high standards. With the WoldCom and Tyco scandals suggesting that the corporate malfeasance did not end with Enron, he cancelled some of his benefits and wrote an explanatory letter to the Wall Street Journal.

Mr Beccalli was keen to separate excesses in the broader market from the case of Mr Welch. "Let me split Mr Welch from the Enron thing and that kind of stuff," he said. "Mr Welch's package was public, approved, filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission and nobody ever said anything about it ... Mr Welch has got all the respect of all the employees of General Electric. Mr Welch made his own decision. It was his own decision. I think that he had an agreement in 1996. I don't think he should have broken that agreement."

Of the scandals in US business life, he said it was "natural" that there were excesses in certain situations. It was not a case, however, of capitalism gone crazy. "When the boom finishes and the moment of crisis comes, we have a saying in Italian that all the knots come to the comb ... To be honest, I think it's good. There is no reason why I should behave with a certain level of integrity while there are people who are doing all sorts of things and enjoying the benefits of their poor behaviour."

Mr Beccalli did not believe that the US slowdown had yet reached the double-dip recession stage, but described the situation as static. He said: "I think there is a moment of flatness. There is no excitement. Watching the political situation around the world, people don't really know what is going to happen tomorrow. There is not that easy predictability there used to be only a few months ago."