Berlin  - Chancellor Angela Merkel called Friday for a rapid end to the uncertainty surrounding the future of US carmaker General Motors' European arm, Opel.

"GM needs to see that every delay damages Opel and its employees," Merkel told Germany's business daily Handelsblatt.

The German leader went on to reaffirm Berlin's support for the Austrian-Canadian auto parts group Magna International emerging with a majority stake in Opel.

Talks on Tuesday between General Motor's vice president John Smith and German government representatives broke up without an agreement. However, German officials said Berlin and Detroit remained in contact over the fate of Opel.

The protracted negotiations over Opel's future ownership structure come at a critical time for Berlin with Germany key elections in the coming weeks.

This includes regional elections on the weekend building up to Federal elections set down for September 27.

With about half of Opel's 50,000-strong European workforce is in Germany, the GM offshoot is being kept afloat by a 1.5 billion-euro (2.15-billion-dollar) bridging loan from Berlin.

German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Thursday that the money provided to Opel should last through until about January.

However, a decision on Opel is now not expected until after the Federal elections.

The global auto industry crisis triggered by the recession forced GM to unveil plans for a major revamp of its operations as well as selling off its Opel arm, which includes the German Opel and British Vauxhall car brands.

But tensions between Germany and GM have been rising in recent weeks amid indications that the US carmaker has re-opened the debate about Opel's future.

This follows the appointment of a new GM board which was installed after American government support helped the carmaker to emerge from bankruptcy last month.

As part of the reconsideration of Opel's future, GM is understood to have examined whether it should retain control of its European offshoot as a recovery emerges in world car sales.

Somewhat embarrassing for Merkel's government, GM officials have also indicated that the carmaker would like Berlin to consider an alternative offer for Opel drawn up by the Brussels-based private equity group RHJ International.

But Merkel told Handelsblatt that the RHJ offer was "less sustainable" than the Magna-led bid. Berlin is also offering 4.5 billion euros in state-back guarantees if the Magna-led consortium emerges as the victor in the battle for Opel.

She insisted that finding an investor remained the central part of the rescue operation that Berlin has mounted for the Opel group. (dpa)