German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg confirmed on Tuesday that the government will make a preliminary decision on Opel's future partner on Wednesday.
Although Opel is privately owned by GM, the German government is involved in the negotiations because of the huge loans federal and regional governments will have to guarantee to allow the automaker to survive during the restructuring process.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne met Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to illustrate Fiat's revised offer for a controlling stake in German automaker Opel.
''We had a constructive talk. We illustrated our plan and the German government is seriously committed to resolve this problem,'' Marchionne told the Bloomberg agency after meeting with Merkel.
When asked about Fiat's chances of success, Marchionne said ''it's a lottery now, that's all I can say. Except that we're seriously engaged in striking an accord''.
Marchionne is expected to meet with the chancellor again later in the day.
The other two Opel bidders, Fiat's main rival, the Austrian-Canadian auto parts maker Magna International and RHJ International, a European arm of the American private equity fund Ripplewood, have also revised their offers and will meet with Merkel.
Fiat's offer centers on integrating Opel into a global automaker with the operations of Fiat and Detroit No.3 Chrysler, which Fiat is set to take control over.
Magna's bid is being backed by Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, and is reported to be preferred by leading federal and regional government officials because it is said to include a greater capital injection and aims at keeping the German automaker independent.
GM has to sell at least a stake in Opel to respect its radical restructuring plan and thus quality for further US federal bail-out funds.
TREMONTI SEES OPEL AS A 'GAME BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS'
In a related development, Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said in Rome on Tuesday that Opel's future ''at this point is a game between governments''.
''It's like we've gone back to a state-controlled economy because the game is between the German government, the regional German governments, the Russian government and the American government,'' he explained.
''This is a very complex game and it's too soon to say what will happen,'' Tremonti added.
Germany's federal and regional governments are involved because they must guarantee Opel's bridging loans, while the Russian government is in play because Magna International is allied not only with Sberbank but also Russian automaker GAZ.
The American government is important because it must determine by May 31 whether the GM's restructuring plan, which includes finding a partner for Opel, is sufficient to qualify the Detroit No.1 for further US bail-out funds.
