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ANGELA MERKEL

Berlin pressures GM on Opel decision

General Motors kept Germans guessing over the weekend over the fate of its troubled Opel unit even as pressure mounted for a decision on a proposed takeover by Canada's Magna International.

Published: 24 August 2009 07:45 CEST
Berlin pressures GM on Opel decision
Photo: DPA

With just five weeks until German elections, leading politicians on Sunday ratcheted up calls for General Motors and US authorities to make a decision as early as next week.

“The sooner the better,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told ZDF television in an interview for broadcast late Sunday. “I wanted it to come on Friday evening. Now, I hope it will be next week.”

The board of General Motors – which emerged from bankruptcy protection in July – met on Friday in Detroit to mull the future of Opel, but said in a statement that the meeting ended with no decision made.

The board discussed two takeover offers on the table – one from Canadian autoparts maker Magna International and state Russian lender Sberbank, and another from Brussels-based investment group RHJ International.

A German Economy Ministry spokesman told AFP he could not say precisely when negotiations might resume.

GM, which is now more than 60-percent held by the US government on the heels of its bankruptcy, did not comment at the weekend on what the next steps would be.

GM is believed to favour RHJ as more attractive and easier to implement. But Germany has an interest in Magna’s bid because it appears to contain greater protections against job losses in Germany.

Both bidders want to cut around 10,000 jobs at Opel. In all 25,000 jobs would be at stake in Germany if Opel were to fold altogether.

Bringing its weight to bear, the German government is stumping up several billion euros in loans to sweeten the deal. In addition, around half of General Motors European employees work in Germany.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hopes to unseat Merkel in September 27 elections, said in a statement he had telephoned his US counterpart Hillary Clinton to press Berlin’s case.

Steinmeier “emphasised that after several months of intensive negotiations, the time had now come for a decision,” according to a statement issued by the foreign ministry.

“The workers at Opel deserve clarity and a credible prospect for the future,” the statement added. He called for a decision “as quickly as possible that safeguards the future of all Opel factories and as many jobs in Germany as possible.”

According to press reports, Germany is prepared to offer a €4.5-billion loan to Magna in an attempt to persuade GM to choose the Canadian-led offer.

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POLITICS

Sleep, seaside, potato soup: What will Merkel do next?

 After 16 years in charge of Europe's biggest economy, the first thing Angela Merkel wants to do when she retires from politics is take "a little nap". But what about after that?

Published: 5 December 2021 17:31 CET
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefly closes her eyes and smiles at a 2018 press conference in Berlin.
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefly closes her eyes at a 2018 press conference in Berlin. Aside from plans to take "a little nap" after retiring this week, she hasn't given much away about what she might do next. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

The veteran chancellor has been tight-lipped about what she will do after handing over the reins to her successor Olaf Scholz on December 8th.

During her four terms in office, 67-year-old Merkel was often described as the most powerful woman in the world — but she hinted recently that she will not miss being in charge.

“I will understand very quickly that all this is now someone else’s responsibility. And I think I’m going to like that situation a lot,” she said during a trip to Washington this summer.

Famous for her stamina and her ability to remain fresh after all-night meetings, Merkel once said she can store sleep like a camel stores water.

But when asked about her retirement in Washington, she replied: “Maybe I’ll try to read something, then my eyes will start to close because I’m tired, so I’ll take a little nap, and then we’ll see where I show up.”

READ ALSO: ‘Eternal’ chancellor: Germany’s Merkel to hand over power
READ ALSO: The Merkel-Raute: How a hand gesture became a brand

‘See what happens’
First elected as an MP in 1990, just after German reunification, Merkel recently suggested she had never had time to stop and reflect on what else she might like to do.

“I have never had a normal working day and… I have naturally stopped asking myself what interests me most outside politics,” she told an audience during a joint interview with Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

“As I have reached the age of 67, I don’t have an infinite amount of time left. This means that I want to think carefully about what I want to do in the next phase of my life,” she said.

“Do I want to write, do I want to speak, do I want to go hiking, do I want to stay at home, do I want to see the world? I’ve decided to just do nothing to begin with and see what happens.”

Merkel’s predecessors have not stayed quiet for long. Helmut Schmidt, who left the chancellery in 1982, became co-editor of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit and a popular commentator on political life.

Helmut Kohl set up his own consultancy firm and Gerhard Schroeder became a lobbyist, taking a controversial position as chairman of the board of the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

German writer David Safier has imagined a more eccentric future for Merkel, penning a crime novel called Miss Merkel: Mord in der Uckermark  that sees her tempted out of retirement to investigate a mysterious murder.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel forms her trademark hand gesture, the so-called “Merkel-Raute” (known in English as the Merkel rhombus, Merkel diamond or Triangle of Power). (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
 

Planting vegetables
Merkel may wish to spend more time with her husband Joachim Sauer in Hohenwalde, near Templin in the former East Germany where she grew up, and where she has a holiday home that she retreats to when she’s weary.

Among the leisure activities she may undertake there is vegetable, and especially, potato planting, something that she once told Bunte magazine in an interview in 2013 that she enjoyed doing.

She is also known to be a fan of the volcanic island of D’Ischia, especially the remote seaside village of Sant’Angelo.

Merkel was captured on a smartphone video this week browsing the footwear in a Berlin sportswear store, leading to speculation that she may be planning something active.

Or the former scientist could embark on a speaking tour of the countless universities from Seoul to Tel Aviv that have awarded her honorary doctorates.

Merkel is set to receive a monthly pension of around 15,000 euros ($16,900) in her retirement, according to a calculation by the German Taxpayers’ Association.

But she has never been one for lavish spending, living in a fourth-floor apartment in Berlin and often doing her own grocery shopping.

In 2014, she even took Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to her favourite supermarket in Berlin after a bilateral meeting.

So perhaps she will simply spend some quiet nights in sipping her beloved white wine and whipping up the dish she once declared as her favourite, a “really good potato soup”.

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