Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said on Tuesday that in the event Fiat is successful in creating an international partnership, it must keep its five plants in Italy in production.
The minister expressed his hope that Fiat would succeed in allying with American carmaker Chrysler and Germany's Opel, the main marque in General Motors' European division, which would represent a success for Italy.
Fiat must present its bid for Opel by Wednesday, after which Scajola said he wanted to sit down with Fiat and its unions to discuss the future of the automobile industry in Italy.
Unions have demanded that such a meeting take place even before a decision is made for Opel, while Fiat has said that discussion can only take place when there is something concrete to discuss.
Earlier this month, Scajola made it clear that Fiat's Italian plants would have to remain open if the automaker wanted any further state support.
Unions in Italy and Germany are worried that cost savings from a Fiat-Opel merger would translate into job cuts because of the overlap in the automakers' production.
Meanwhile, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne was back in Germany to put the final touches on the plan he will present to German government officials and GM management for Opel.
On Monday he met in Germany with GM and Opel management and on Tuesday he met with the German carmaker's main union.
Marchionne has vowed that no plants in Germany will be shut down but he has also said that Fiat will not invest cash in Germany but will seek financial government support.
A non-cash deal to obtain control of Chrysler has already been negotiated with the Detroit No.3 and Washington administration officials which sees Fiat offering its cutting-edge green and small-car technology in exchange for an initial 20% stake, which will then rise to 35% once benchmarks are met and over 50% once federal loans have been repaid.
In order to obtain Opel and Saab of Sweden, Fiat is said to be offering GM a stake in the future automotive giant which will rival Toyota of Japan and Germany's Volkswagen on the world market.
Fiat, however, is not alone in wanting Opel and according to the German press the German government expects to receive three offers on Wednesday.
The greatest threat to Fiat's ambitions appears to be a bid from the Austrian-Canadian auto parts maker Magna International, which has reportedly allied with Russian carmaker GAZ and Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank.
The third offer is expected to come from the American private equity fund Ripplewood, although there are indications, even from German Economy Minister Karl-theodor zu Guttenberg, that the US investor may have lost interest.
