Wiesbaden, Germany - Hesse's Prime Minister Roland Koch late Tuesday that he was "shocked and at the same time angry" over the decision by US car maker General Motors to scratch the partial sale of Opel to Magna. "In light of the negative experiences of the past years with GM's business strategy, I am very worried about the future of this firm and its jobs," Koch said in a statement distributed Tuesday evening.
He said he expected GM to pay back the 1.5-billion-dollar bridge loan from the German government that is keeping Opel's operations going in Germany "so that the German taxpayer does not suffer the loss."
About half of Opel's 50,000-strong workforce is in Germany.
Sources close to the negotiations in Detroit told the German Press Agency