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Frankfurt - The struggling US auto giant General Motors is prepared to have only a minority stake in its German subsidiary Opel, economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said on Tuesday.
Guttenberg told German public television ARD that a meeting with GM directors in the United States had resulted in "an important step" ahead and that GM "supports a European structure for Opel".
The troubled US firm "is prepared to find solutions that would also authorise a minority participation by GM", which has asked European states to stump up €3.3bn ($4.3bn dollars) to help the auto manufacturer and its 50 000 European workers.
Guttenberg said both sides had stopped blaming each other for GM and Opel's financial problems, and had instead shown a willingness to find a lasting solution for Opel's future.
"We had a good discussion, very open," the German minister said.
He said he had also sought guarantees from the US government that any German public aid for Opel would not be transferred to boost its struggling parent GM.
No funds for US coffers please
Opel has said it needs the €3.3bn to avoid bankruptcy under a plan presented in late February that also foresees the German car maker gaining a large degree of autonomy from GM.
German authorities have deemed a GM Europe proposal for Opel too vague and have given themselves several weeks to decide whether to bail out the car maker, which employs 26 000 people in Germany alone.
After a Tuesday meeting with his US counterpart, treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, Guttenberg told reporters that "the glimmer of hope for Opel was becoming a bit brighter", even though the US proposals remained too vague.
Despite "considerable progress" in the talks, many unresolved issues remained, he said.
The governments of European countries where GM has operations want to be assured that the money they are ready to invest in Opel will not be used to fill the struggling US car maker's coffers.
Guttenberg said his deputy, Jochen Homann, would lead direct talks on Opel's fate with US authorities.
- AFP