BERLIN -- The ink is hardly dry on the deal to salvage the German automaker Opel, but already the political recriminations are echoing across Europe.In Berlin, the government was in turmoil Sunday after Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the conservative economics minister, broke ranks with Chancellor Angela Merkel by criticizing the deal to hand Opel, the European unit of General Motors, to a Russian bank and a Canadian-Austrian auto parts maker. In Rome, it was Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government that was under fire, accused of having not sufficiently aided Fiat in its rival bid. G.M. is expected to file for bankruptcy protection Monday in New York after bondholders accounting for more than $27.2 billion of the company's debt voted Saturday to exchange their debt for an ownership stake as high as 25 percent.
In Berlin, the government was in turmoil Sunday after Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the conservative economics minister, broke ranks with Chancellor Angela Merkel by criticizing the deal to hand Opel, the European unit of General Motors, to a Russian bank and a Canadian-Austrian auto parts maker.
In Rome, it was Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government that was under fire, accused of having not sufficiently aided Fiat in its rival bid.
G.M. is expected to file for bankruptcy protection Monday in New York after bondholders accounting for more than $27.2 billion of the company's debt voted Saturday to exchange their debt for an ownership stake as high as 25 percent.
Better a white buyer than a darky? Or better an unrelated party than having a national carmaker taken over by ... the Italian makers of the Panda and 500 soapbox? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
