Opel: The Bridge Is Gone
GM is no longer in hock with Germany. They paid back all of the €1.5b bridge loan Opel had received from Berlin to keep it afloat until it was taken over by Magna and Sberbank. As we all know, this didn’t happen. Berlin wanted its money back, and got it.
“I can tell you that the last funds for Opel have been paid back by General Motors,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I expect at least a thank you letter from General Motors in a few years.” There isn’t much love lost between GM and Berlin these days.
In the meantime, the liar’s poker surrounding Opel continues. There was a meeting in Brussels to which all of Europe’s Economy Ministers were invited. Most sent their deputies. The meeting concluded with everybody swearing not to do anything in aid to Opel without consulting the others. Such an oath of allegiance had been made before, and broken.
GM’s Nick Reilly had traveled to Brussels to meet with the officials, including EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, and EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Reuters reports that after the meeting, Verheugen said that “General Motors made one point very clear, 100 percent clear, the restructuring plan could only be achieved when European member states with Opel plants give some financial help.” Ten days ago, GM’s Chairman Ed Whitacre had said that “we will pay for it ourselves.”
As far as Germany is concerned, GM and Opel are on their own. With the bridge loan paid back, the Opel Trust will be disbanded. Germany’s new Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle is opposed to any help. Yesterday, he said on national TV: “Like any German company, Opel can hand in an application for aid. We will review the application as in duty bound. Opel is not entitled to aid.” Brüderle said that keeping jobs is a worthwhile goal. “However, the German taxpayer is no sugar daddy.”
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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"Opel is not entitled to aid.” Brüderle said that keeping jobs is a worthwhile goal. “However, the German taxpayer is no sugar daddy.” The same should apply to those of us in the States
Reading the comments above, I can't help but think you guys weren't reading this story from the beginning. This is not a victory for the German government in any way. They were falling over themselves before the Sept. election to give money to Magna so that Opel could be saved from ["the horrendous burden of"] American (mis)management control. When GM finally realised they need a compact-car engineering strategy and might actually need Opel R&D in future, they effectively 'flipped the bird' at the German gov't. In that one move, GM managed to sting the German national pride, allowing the post-election government to take a ferocious line against GM. If anybody has saved the day, it has been the EU Competition Commissioner (a Dutch woman by the name of Neelie Kroes). She gave the German gov't a slap on the wrist for tieing state aid to German job protection and allowed GM to do a U-turn. And now she has created the conditions that no EU gov't is allowed to speak to GM about financial aid, UNTIL GM has revealed its hand about what jobs it is going to cut, breaking the link between aid and job protection. The headlines should read, "EU fairly manages national interests AND global corporations, for benefit of European citizens".