BERLIN (AFP)--The collapse of struggling General Motors' (GM)
unit Opel could cost German taxpayers up to EUR3 billion and it
would be better to rescue it instead, Germany's finance minster
said Sunday.
If 25,000 workers at Opel and a similar number at supplier firms
lost their jobs, there would be a high price to pay in terms of
unemployment benefits and loss of tax revenue, Peer Steinbruck told
ARD television.
"Would it not be more logical to provide aid (to the company) so
that these people can continue to earn their living?" he asked.
Opel, like its parent company and peers elsewhere, has seen its
sales devastated by the worst global economic slump in decades
while Washington has given billions of dollars to its parent GM to
help it survive the crisis.
GM's restructure plans, however, are radical, including the sale
of many of its overseas operations, dropping brands and cutting
thousands of jobs.
Steinbruck said it was up to Opel to take the measures it felt
necessary first before state aid could be considered.
"I want firstly to see a restructuring plan for the company...
to see what steps they are prepared to take before thinking
whether, as a last resort, the government should come to their
aid," he added.
New Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said in remarks
published earlier Sunday he would lobby for Washington to rescue
struggling Opel.
Zu Guttenberg told Bild am Sonntag newspaper he had established
an informal U.S.-German working group with U.S. Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner and he would use a March visit to hold more
meetings with key officials.
"It is indispensable that General Motors and Opel consider
rapidly... how they want to keep jobs in an economically healthy
way," he said.
Reports say Opel needs more than EUR3.3 billion ($4.2 billion)
in public loan guarantees - nearly double the figure previously
expected.
Meanwhile, the head of auto components firm Schaeffler, which
last year borrowed heavily to take over its larger rival
Continental, said current circumstances meant it had no option but
to ask for state aid.
"To ask for money from the state is the last thing that a boss
would want to do but their responsibility towards the company and
its employees does not leave us any choice," Maria-Elisabeth
Schaeffler told the Bild Sunday edition.