A decision should be made before Christmas

The German Government is ready to consider a State guarantee of approximately EUR 1 billion for Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, if necessary, said yesterday the Chancellor Merkel, after a Summit of highly publicized crisis attended by staff of the company and the Ministers of economy and finance. It is however still too early to know if it will be necessary to enable this measure, intended to facilitate medium term financing of the constructor, which challenge, at the present time, the banks. A decision should be made before Christmas.

In the meantime, if the difficulties of Opel and GM amplify, cabinet Merkel to answer more complex questions. How to ensure that the public security benefits, in fine, the German subsidiary and not to the American parent How to submit public assistance to obtain the green light from Brussels What counterparties request in exchange for the coup de pouce The Minister of the economy has already clarified that it cannot be guarantee "without conditions". How to avoid, after a possible support for Opel, a wave of claims on the part of other manufacturers On the part of other sectors in difficulty The Minister of Finance has made clear that "the State cannot be a substitute for private consumption" and was not nor responsible "for the errors made by the industry."

The debate rages German. The fact that the Chancellor herself has led discussions, yesterday afternoon, says a lot about the impact of the crisis of Opel. In Germany, sometimes called "Autoland" in the press, the automotive industry is indeed a quasi identity dimension. The proximity of important regional elections and the legislative elections of September 2009 also explains the willingness of politicians to take the record. Parallel to the consultations of the Chancellor, yesterday, the Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, candidate of the social democratic party in the next year Chancellery, met with, him, the leaders of the automotive industry. The Minister-President of the Land of Hessen is clearly positioned in advanced, before his counterparts of the Länder of Rhineland - North Rhine - Westphalia, Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate, where Opel plants are also located. After failing to form a stable majority after the January elections, Roland Koch must return before voters next January and lies in St. Bernard Opel.

"Preventive measures".

Yesterday, the Government adopted a Bill to grant guarantees to firms in difficulty in the amount of EUR 500 million. The current texts are limited to 300 million euros and, especially, the 2008 envelope is exhausted.

A subsidiary of General Motors since 1929, Opel insists on its "good liquidity situation". The manufacturer wants to just take "preventive measures, in the case where the situation of its parent still degrades", indicates to Headquarters, Rüsselsheim (Hesse). According to the German press, GM must its subsidiary EUR 2 billion for development projects. This amount, which must be paid in several instalments, is intended to finance the launch of twenty new models by 2012. But could never arrive at Opel, which barely past his models. In October, sales fell by 25.6. Its market share decreased from 8.6 to 7.9 since the beginning of the year. Result, he had to put some 5,000 employees of its Bochum site technical unemployment last month.