EXTRA: Merkel calls Obama to raise pressure on General Motors
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Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called US President Barack Obama on Thursday to urge action on a new strategic plan for troubled European carmaker Opel, after parent company General Motors said that they would not sell the firm. "The Chancellor advised that her government would urge General Motors to present a new strategy for Opel as soon as possible, and to repay the bridging loan by the end of November," Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin. The German government had made some 1.5 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) available to GM in order to finance the sale process, which collapsed on Wednesday after GM announced it would not sell Opel to Austrian-Canadian consortium Magna, as had been Berlin's preference.
Copyright DPA
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