General Motors Co. doesn't qualify for aid under the so-called Germany Fund and it would be a "farce" if the carmaker were granted the assistance to help restructure the Opel division, a German government adviser said.
"One must give no support to GM if the fund's criteria are taken seriously," Justus Haucap, head of the Monopolies Commission, which advises the federal government on competition and regulation matters, said in a telephone interview. "Opel's problems have nothing to do with the financial crisis."
The 115 billion-euro ($173 billion) government fund for loans and guarantees was created this year as part of economic stimulus measures to prop up companies impaired by the global recession.
GM plans to present union-approved proposals to restructure Opel to European governments by mid-December in a bid to win aid to reduce capacity by 20 percent. Opel's revamp will eliminate as many as 9,500 jobs across Europe, where about 50,000 workers are employed, Nick Reilly, the unit's acting chief, said yesterday.
"The management mistakes at GM which brought about the crisis were made well before the credit crunch," said Haucap, an economics professor at the University of Dusseldorf.
'Wait and See'
Stefan Weinmann, a spokesman at the GM unit's headquarters in Ruesselsheim, said talks with governments on aid are just getting under way and no decision has been made on applying for Germany Fund relief.
"Let's wait and see how the talks proceed," Weinmann said by phone. Chris Preuss, a Detroit-based GM spokesman, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Germany's federal government and the four states with Opel factories had pledged to shoulder 4.5 billion euros in aid for a planned sale to Magna International Inc. and OAO Sberbank, before GM's decision on Nov. 3 to keep full ownership.
Rainer Bruederle, the country's new economy minister, has ruled out federal aid for GM, saying the Detroit-based carmaker's decision to retain Opel invalidated previous commitments drawn up on the assumption that Opel would be sold as part of an "investor solution."
Bruederle has said GM will "at most" get assistance from the states with factories, though it can apply to the Germany Fund.
