Politicians seething over GM U-turn

GM’s decision to keep Opel has left politicians in Moscow and Berlin seething.

The Kremlin is hinting that it believes GM no longer has the right to rescind the deal and the German government wants its 1.5bn euro state bridging loan back.

Germany’s Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle said:
“The behaviour of General Motors towards Germany is totally unacceptable. We will reclaim the money of our taxpayers, they have a right to demand this.”

The European Commission’s also monitoring
proceedings. Spokesman Jonathan Todd said:
“The Commission will verify that any financial support from member state goverments for the new GM restructuring plan will be fully compliant with the EU state aid and internal market rules.”

The Commission is determined to ensure there is no breach of EU competition rules.

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tags: Car industry in crisis, General Motors, Opel