Press review: GM keeps Opel

Germany's government had heavily backed the decision by GM to sell its European Opel subsidiary to a consortium led by Canadian car parts maker Magna. Some papers now say Chancellor Angela Merkel has egg on her face.

MESSED ABOUT: On 10 September, GM finally approves the sale of Opel to Magna... Chancellor Merkel: "I am overjoyed at the decision." Social Democrat candidate for Chancellor Steinmeier: "I am glad that GM has decided in favour of the investors' solution."

THE TRUTH: There is still a power struggle over the sale of Opel going on at GM headquarters in Detroit. Opel has the small car know-how that's now needed in the US too.

Magna, Magna, Magna. German political leaders were so fixated on one solution to the problem that populism blinded them to reality. Now they're learning the painful truth that they cannot force GM into a deal it does not want.

The Chancellor, who the day before had given a well received speech to Congress in the United States, is soon speechless. It's difficult to believe: a few minutes before her flight home from Washington, the news reached Merkel. Still in the plane, officials try to make contact with the White House.

Six months of intensive negotiation, so it would appear, were in vain. Political leaders, investment bankers and managers from a range of companies have wasted their time and spent several nights at the Chancellor's office for nothing.

It is especially embarrassing for Angela Merkel because she has always pressed General Motors to sell Opel to the car parts supplier, Magna.

Stay optimistic: German EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen says GM's decision to keep Opel is not necessarily negative.

The behaviour of the previous government is worthy of respect, says Verheugen. "Without the willingness of the Germans to find a transitional solution for Opel backed by a loan of 1.5bn euros, all GM's European plants would have gone bankrupt. No-one knows what would have been left."

He who shouts loudest has the worst conscience. Thus the strong statements lobbed by German politicians at the American car company, General Motors, have one function: to distract from the remarkable failure of those managing Angela Merkel's and Frank-Walter Steinmeier's election campaigns - those who used Opel's destiny for their own purposes, fed illusions and pandered to instincts.

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