General Motors’ last-minute decision to keep Opel has prompted howls of anger from the German government and trade unions.

It is hard to see how the emaciated U.S. auto giant, which survived Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year only thanks to $50 billlion in emergency aid from Washington, can finance the restructuring that its loss-making European arm needs on its own.

But it may not need to. European governments are still likely to help foot the bill.

Despite the collapse of the sale to Magna <MGa.TO> and Sberbank <SBER03.MM>, which Chancellor Angela Merkel fought hard to engineer, Berlin may well end up giving GM taxpayers’ money to save German jobs. Opel workers will have little choice but to make the same concessions on contract conditions  to GM as they did to Magna.

GM has yet to put forward a restructuring plan and may face hostility from its German workforce. But its chances of making New Opel a going concern are at least as good as Magna’s. The Canadian parts maker’s business plan to build Opel cars in Russia looked fraught with risk, and its corporate structure complex.

Britain was first to indicate on Wednesday that state cash might be on offer to preserve the two plants where Opel cars are assembled under the Vauxhall marque. Austria also said GM could apply for state aid on the same terms as Magna.

Once Berlin swallows its fury at this slap in the face, political reality will set in. The ruling centre-right coalition will not want to see factories threatened with closure before next year’s key regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia. 

GM made its hand-brake U-turn because a majority on the board believed that Opel’s clean technology for small cars, its platforms and distribution network are vital to the parent company’s survival as a global player.

The change of heart was made possible by European Commission competition chief Neelie Kroes, who objected to Berlin’s use of state aid to skew the bidding towards Magna/Sberbank.

She forced the Germans to pledge that the same assistance would be available “irrespective of the choice of investor or plan, in order to ensure the long-term viability of New Opel, and subject to reasonable financing conditions”.

The EU competition watchdog cannot legally make Berlin give the same aid to GM that it promised Magna. But by forcing the reopening of the deal, it may have achieved that outcome anyway.