Germany Set to Deepen Ties to Russia With Opel Sale - by Leon Mangasarian
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government picked on May 30 a partnership led by Magna International Inc., a Canadian auto- parts supplier, with Russia’s biggest bank, OAO Sberbank, and Russian carmaker OAO GAZ as the sole bidder for Opel, the European division of GM, the U.S. automaker that will file for bankruptcy today. “This will fuel suspicion in east Europe over Germany and Russia and why the biggest economy in Europe has tied up with strange Russian tycoons to please the Kremlin,” said Fredrik Erixon, director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy. “Germany is playing off the Poles and the Baltic states against Russia.” Germany is Russia’s biggest trade partner, a relationship underpinned by rising German gas and oil imports. Annual German trade with Russia increased five-fold to 68.2 billion euros ($96.2 billion) last year since 2000. With 6,000 German companies operating in Russia, business leaders in Berlin view the global recession as a speed-bump, with manufacturers set to win contracts as Russia diversifies from energy and rebuilds transport and health care.
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