Opel rescue undermines free competition

The daily Evenimentul Zilei comments on the takeover of German carmaker Opel: "Proponents of the free market are not exactly thrilled at the electoral victories of the conservative European parties, because they are not synonymous with a love of capitalism. Just take a look at Germany, where Chancellor [Angela] Merkel made a pitiful show at the end of her first term in office by backing the rescue of Opel by an obscure Canadian-Russian partnership with massive subsidies. In return for the state money the Russian-Canadian tandem is obliged (unofficially of course) not to shut down plants in Germany, but if necessary in other countries where Opel is located. This flies in the face of reason, because as everyone knows the plants that should be closed down are the ones that cost the most . ... Even after the elections that brought Merkel her preferred coalition partner (the liberals), the government in Berlin still doesn't have the power to do what must be done - namely to explain to the excellent but expensive German workers that some of them must produce something other than cars, because there's no market for the automobiles they now produce. The result: the spirit - and the law - of free competition in the EU are seriously undermined."

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