The dispute over state aid for Opel

In Germany there are calls for politicians to nationalise carmaker Opel, releasing it from the grip of its heavily encumbered US parent company General Motors. The left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung comments: "Whether the rescue of Opel, which will be paid for by the taxpayer, would indeed be in society's interest is debatable. The billions in aid will be greeted with a thunder of applause in Bochum, Eisenach and Rüsselheim where Opel has its facilities, but few Germans are likely to be willing to fork out higher taxes to save one company after another. For if we help Opel we must also help Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler. If we spend billions on rescuing the carmakers we must also support the major suppliers. If we help Conti or Schaeffler we must also help the manufacturers who build the production lines for the car industry. Saving banks can be justified by pointing out that otherwise the entire financial system and consequently the economy would collapse, but with industrial companies, no matter how big, this argument doesn't apply."

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