Memo: State aid: Commissioner Kroes expresses concerns that New Opel aid is conditional on choice of Magna/Sberbank

European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes wrote to Germany's Economics Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg expressing her concerns that, according to the Commission's preliminary inquiries, aid promised by German Government to New Opel was subject to the pre-condition that a specific bidder, Magna/Sberbank, was selected to acquire a majority of the shares in New Opel. The Commissioner indicated that such a precondition for the aid would be incompatible with EC Treaty state aid and internal market rules. Commissioner Kroes explained that GM and the Opel Trust should be given the opportunity to reconsider the outcome of the bidding process on the basis of firm written assurances by the German authorities that the aid would be available, irrespective of the choice of investor or plan, in order to ensure the long-term viability of New Opel, and subject to reasonable financing conditions.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: GM board to reconsider Opel sale plan http://www.europeansources.info/record/gm-board-to-reconsider-opel-sale-plan/

---