By Patrick McGroarty
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- The German government and states with Opel factories agree that General Motors Co.'s restructuring plan for Opel must keep all four factories in the country open, state Governor Kurt Beck said Thursday.
"We are all equal...none of the four factories close," said Beck, governor of Rhineland-Palatinate, calling it one of the "basic conditions" of a plan that the government and governors would support.
GM's plan must also provide "long-term prospects" for Opel's future, said Juergen Ruettgers, governor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and protect workers' rights.
Beck, Ruettgers and governors from the two other states with Opel factories met with Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle Thursday evening in Berlin to discuss GM's decision to keep German-based Adam Opel GmbH rather than sell it to Magna International Inc. (MGA).
Bruederle said he and the governors agreed that GM must present its restructuring plan as soon as possible.
Chancellor Angela Merkel also pressed that point in a telephone call Wednesday with President Barack Obama, her spokesman said.
Spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in a statement released Thursday that Obama assured Merkel he wasn't involved in the decision by GM's board to keep Opel rather than sell it to Magna International.
Merkel also told Obama she wants GM to repay funds it holds from a EUR1.5 billion bridge financing offer by the end of November. GM currently holds some EUR800 million from the fund.
GM's board decided late Tuesday to retain Opel, an abrupt shift after months of negotiations focused on the Magna deal that surprised and infuriated German politicians.
GM wants Germany and other European countries with Opel plants to contribute to the EUR3 billion in financing it says is needed for its restructuring plan. John Smith, GM's top executive handling the restructuring, said Wednesday that Opel's Bochum plant in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia may be downsized but not closed--a gesture which could temper political frustration in Germany.
Ruettgers, the state's governor, said Thursday that the plant's future was critical to his willingness to endorse GM's plan.
"If Bochum is in question, then the situation would be very difficult," Ruettgers said.
-By Patrick McGroarty, Dow Jones Newswires; Patrick.McGroarty@dowjones.com