Germany moved to reassure its European Union partners about its rescue plan for Opel, insisting that it would not violate the bloc's strict rules on state aid. "Every step is being co-ordinated with all of the other member states. This is why we believe that we are conforming with EU regulations," Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) quoted German Economy State Minister Peter Hintze as saying on 24 September after a meeting with fellow EU ministers in Brussels.
The German government is underwriting the purchase of General Motors' European arm Opel by the Magna International consortium with € 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in loans and credit guarantees.
But other EU countries in which Opel has plants have expressed suspicions that Berlin will only provide the money on the condition that jobs are preserved in Germany, at the expense of workers elsewhere.
"No company should play governments against each other," said Swedish Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson, who chaired the meeting in Brussels as representing the current holder of the EU presidency.
While stressing the need for EU rules to be adhered by, Olofsson nevertheless said that ministers had been "reassured" by Germany's intention to fully co-operate with the European Commission.
The EU's single market watchdog has repeatedly stressed that state-aid decisions cannot have political strings attached, such as forcing the beneficiary company to keep jobs in a particular country. "We have made it clear that if there are state-aid elements in the restructuring of GM Europe, these will be very closely examined by the Commission," Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said. "The result of today's council (meeting) is that the EU's competition rules are important and valuable to all member states.".
The commissioner added that parties involved in Opel's restructuring plans would be  meeting on 7 October to discuss the Magna plan. A formal state-aid decision by the EU executive would only be taken after that date, Verheugen said.
Commission officials, however, later told the German Press Agency dpa that no such meeting would be taking place on 7 October. Opel employs more than 25,000 people in four factories in Germany, but has more plants in Belgium, Poland, Spain and Austria. Opel also has a sister company in Britain, Vauxhall. 
Magna has said it may have to axe up to 11,000 jobs across Europe, sparking angry protests.
Some 5,000 Opel workers rallied on 23 September in Antwerp to protest against the possible closure of Opel's Belgian plant, which employs around 2,600 people, while a similar demonstration  was held on 19 September in the Spanish town of Zaragoza, where an Opel factory employs 7,000 workers.
The 24 September meeting in Brussels was preceded by an opening salvo from British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson who, in a letter to the European Commission, questioned the viability of the Magna deal. "We do not believe the case has been demonstrated that the current Magna proposal is commercially the most viable plan," Mandelson wrote in the letter, extracts of which were published by the Financial Times on 24 September.
Mandelson also urged the EU executive in Brussels to ensure "a commercially based outcome rather than one determined by political intervention and subsidies".
A Commission spokesman confirmed receiving the letter, but pointed out that his office would not be taking a position until it had received the official plan from Berlin, likely not before Germany’s general election on 27 September.
Spain's Secretary of State for European Affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido, also weighed in on 24 September by urging the Commission to ensure that "state aid or government decisions do not condition the business".
The European car industry suffers from chronic overcapacity, but closing down factories is political suicide, particularly during the current downturn. "The fact that GM has taken a decision (to restructure) does not change the basic situation, which is that the automobile industry needs to put itself in a position to survive," Verheugen said.