The German government will have to lead talks with General Motors Corp. (GM) because the company's German unit Adam Opel GmbH has some tens of thousands of staff in Germany, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said Wednesday.

Still, he told reporters that he is skeptical over acquiring a stake in Opel.

The comments come as General Motors said Tuesday it is counting on $6 billion in financial support from foreign governments and could potentially need billions more from the U.S. government in coming years to cover pension obligations, even if it gets the additional aid it requested Tuesday. It is looking to secure the aid by March 31.

It also said it would cut 47,000 jobs globally and from these, 26,000 job cuts would take place outside Europe.

Opel has some 25,000 employees in Germany.

Web site: www.bundesregierung.de; www.opel.com

-By Andrea Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 (0)30 2888 4126; andrea.thomas@dowjones.com