German committee to meet on Opel state aid next week

BERLIN, May 7 (Reuters) - The German committee responsible for state guarantees will meet next week to discuss aid for General Motors' European unit Opel, a spokeswoman for the German Economy Ministry said on Friday.

The steering commmittee and council would need to discuss the aid before a decision could be reached, the spokeswoman said. A date had not yet been set for the decision.

GM last year drew the anger of European governments and workers when it scrapped plans to sell Opel and asked them to contribute to the cost of returning the carmaker to profit.

Germany -- asked to provide the lion's share of aid -- had been cool to the idea of funnelling taxpayer funds into Opel after GM abandoned a deal with Canada's Magna that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had helped broker. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh) Keywords: GERMANY OPEL/ ([e-mail]; [phone]; RM: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.