Germany wants General Motors to increase its contribution to the Opel unit's reorganization before considering whether to provide state aid, according to two people familiar with the matter. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle is using a two-day U.S. visit, which includes a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Washington, to express that view, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential. GM has said it will provide $836 million for Opel's restructuring and ask for as much as $3.7 billion from European governments. Germany made money available last year to keep Opel afloat and is more cautious about providing aid after GM backed out of an agreement to sell the unit to Magna International, the bidder favored by Germany, the people said. Detroit- based GM decided in November to retain Opel. The German government expects GM to file a request for state loans by mid-February, they said. GM has said it needs financial support from governments including Britain, Spain and Poland. The carmaker hasn't given a breakdown of how much it wants from each country and it's unclear how much more Germany wants GM to contribute. Geithner and Bruederle 'discussed the state of the global recovery and their shared commitment to international cooperation around financial reform,' Natalie Wyeth, a Treasury spokeswoman, said in a statement after the meeting Monday, without saying whether the officials talked about Opel. Sarah Schneid, a German Economy Ministry spokeswoman, declined to comment. Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman in Detroit, also declined to comment and referred questions to GM Europe. Opel plans to put in a request for financial aid once the review is completed as early as this week, said Stefan Weinmann, a spokesman for GM Europe. 'The German government has set out a process for how to apply for aid, and we're following that,' Weinmann said. 'Part of the requirement is to have an outside party review the request.' Bruederle, a deputy leader of the pro-business Free Democrats, took over as economy minister Oct. 28, days before GM decided to keep Opel. The Free Democrats opposed excessive government involvement in Opel and the creation of a trust last June to facilitate the sale of the carmaker to an investor. His predecessor, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, had brokered a sale of Opel with German state financing. Opel said Jan. 21 that it will halt production this year at Antwerp, Belgium, the first restructuring move after more than a year of talks with unions on scaling back the workforce and production capacity. The closure is part of GM's effort to restore profit at Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall by eliminating 8,300 jobs and cutting capacity by 20 percent. With assistance from Chris Reiter in Berlin, Katie Merx in Detroit and Rebecca Christie in Washington. 