Brussels - The European Commission will need several weeks before it can rule on whether Germany's rescue of struggling carmaker Opel complies with the bloc's rules on state aid, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has told national governments. Several other European Union member states have queried whether the planned take-over of the troubled carmaker by Magna, a move backed by state guarantees, would see jobs at German plants preserved at the expense of those in factories in other countries.
In a letter to the British Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, Kroes wrote that checking the terms of the deal "may take a few weeks."
"The commission has from the outset indicated that it will ensure that any aid granted to new Opel fully complies with State aid rules and that no conditions contrary to internal market principles are - in any form - attached to it," Kroes wrote in an October 7 letter to Mandelson and his EU counterparts.
However, "the above verifications may take a few weeks, as all relevant facts must be ascertained," Kroes wrote.
General Motors' European arm has several factories in Germany as well as in Spain, Belgium and Britain.
Last week, the commission said it was still waiting for the German government to provide the full documentation on the Magna-Opel deal.
