European governments now find themselves in the same catch-22 as Washington: bail out General Motors’ European operations, which employ about 50,000 directly, or suffer brutal consequences. Echoing the warnings it was issuing in the US before Christmas, GM said on Tuesday that without aid from several states it could run out of cash as early as next month, endangering up to 300,000 jobs, including suppliers. But, in Europe, GM is going further and suggesting states may have to take stakes. Europe’s governments should resist. They almost certainly will not.

With Saab in Sweden’s version of Chapter 11, GM Europe now consists mainly of Germany’s Opel, the UK’s Vauxhall and operations in Spain and Belgium. GM has proposed spinning off the European business into an arm’s-length company, provided it receives €3.3bn state aid, principally from Germany. Half the new holding could go to outside investors. But with private investors hardly beating down the doors, it admits governments might have to intervene.