Chancellor Merkel is holding an emergency meeting with Opel's management to work out a plan to aid the troubled car maker. But two Cabinet members emphasized an industry-wide bailout was not the solution.

"I have invited the head of (Opel) Germany, the head of Europe and the union representative so we can discuss on Monday the situation at Opel," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters ahead of an emergency meeting of major economies here to deal with the global financial crisis.

"The federal government, the economy minister and the finance minister are going to take control of this matter," she said of the talks with Opel, a unit of faltering US auto giant General Motors.

Press reports in Germany said the talks on Monday, Nov. 17, would focus on up to two billion euros ($2.5 billion) in possible public loan guarantees to Opel, funds that General Motors, itself on the verge of bankruptcy, cannot provide.

The weekly magazine Focus reported Monday that the federal government would be prepared to guarantee one billion euros and the states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate and Thuringia, where Opel has plants, would cover the second billion.

Ahead of the meeting, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck ruled out a financial rescue package for the auto sector.

"An economic program for the entire automobile industry makes no sense," Steinbrueck told the mass-circulation daily Bild, adding that the state is "not responsible for errors committed by industrialists."

Economy Minister Michael Glos has also voiced opposition to a bail-out plan for the auto industry, which has been hit by a major drop in sales due to the global economic slowdown.

Request for credit guarantees

Opel, which employs some 25,000 people across Germany, said on Friday it had asked Berlin and regional states for credit guarantees to ensure its financing.

The request follows a GM announcement that, in the wake of global market turmoil and the crisis in the US automobile sector, it would be seeking help in countries where it has major operations.

"The aim of the current discussions is to make preparations for guaranteeing further loans because the global financial situation of our parent company General Motors has worsened," supervisory board chairman Klaus Franz said Friday.