Germany gives GM a stiff arm on state aid

You could see this one coming given the humiliating circumstances under which the German Chancellor learned that GM was pulling out of the Magna deal.

The BBC is now reporting that Germany will give General Motors no aid to restructure it’s business. That’s 4.5 Billion Euros they now need to come up with.

Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle told GM executives that they had to be responsible for restructuring the unit.

Germany had previously offered 4.5bn euros ($6.7bn; £4.1bn) to support Opel and protect German jobs if the company was sold to car parts maker Magna.

On cancelling the sale last week, GM said it would still seek state aid.

The German minister’s comments now raise question marks over whether GM will get it.

"I expressed my expectation that General Motors should basically carry out the financing itself," Mr Bruederle said.

Will Obama now come up with the funds?  If this minister gets his way, there don’t seem to be a whole lot of solutions here.