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German Interior Minister: Insolvency Could Be Opel's Only Hope

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a interview for the Handelsblatt business daily that insolvency may prove to be Opel's only chance to remain in business and, even if most people associates it with bankruptcy, it could really help the German brand survive.

"In cases like Opel, one should seriously consider exercising insolvency law. Our modern insolvency law is not set up for the destruction but for the preservation of economic assets," Schaeuble, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), told the Handelsblatt business daily.

"The public perception is that insolvency is associated with going bust or bankruptcy. But that is wrong. We must grasp that to survive such a crisis, modern insolvency rules are a better solution than the state taking a stake," he added according to a Reuters reported.

The German government yesterday announced that Opel's viability plan "is not a workable basis for a decision" so the requested funds cannot be approved for the time being. "We can't make decisions that are irresponsible on a completely inadequate basis," Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck was quoting as saying to Deutschlandfunk radio.

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said in late February that Opel is willing to collaborate with the German government to receive the requested funds and support its campaign to preserve jobs and maintain local operations.

"We will work with our labor representatives to find the best way forward in mitigating the societal impact of the restructuring, but it should be made clear that we need all three parts of the plan to be viable – the structural cost reductions, government support and GM support. Anything short of this will not result in a viable operation," he said.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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