Germany's Economics Minister warned on Tuesday a decision over state aid for Opel, affecting thousands of jobs, could take until early June, as a state rescue fund failed to make a decision on a recommendation on loan guarantees.
"A definitive decision will definitely not be able to be taken today," Rainer Bruederle told reporters in Brussels, dashing hopes that the future of the General Motors GM.UL unit may finally be resolved. He later said this decision would not come until late May or early June and he gave no further details.
Loss-making Opel is seeking state aid for its turnaround plan, but GM's strong balance sheet and its return to profitability from bankruptcy in just 12 months is undermining the arguments for state aid from its subsidiary.
GM only wants to contribute half of the 3.7 billion euros ($4.52 billion) Opel requires in total funding, arguing flatly Opel is a problem for European taxpayers since it is a European carmaker.
Officials claim Opel is not in any acute danger of collapse, so there is no rush to make a decision -- despite 18 months elapsing since the first aid request by Opel was made.
Further delays have raised the suspicion that Berlin is drawing out a final decision long enough until it is blatantly clear to all involved that the answer will be no.
"While all other countries in Europe affected have long since decided (in favor of aid) for Opel, the German government economic policy is still spinning in circles," the regional union boss from IG Metall Frankfurt, Armin Schild, told Reuters.
He warned that the federal government in Berlin risked complete isolation both in Europe and in Germany, after regional states like Thuringia as well as other governments such as the UK, Spain and Poland have decided to provide aid.
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