The French government, the biggest shareholder in French carmaker Renault with a 15 percent stake, said it had not been asked to intervene in a possible alliance between Renault-Nissan and U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. (GM).

"I don't think the state is like some minority shareholder who is going to say you have to do this or that. I respect the governance," French Finance Minister Thierry Breton told reporters.

"We have not been asked about anything yet. What are you talking about? It's not because one shareholder has an idea that we have to take a position on what this shareholder thinks," he added.

Breton made the comments after a proposal of an alliance between the two groups was put forward by a shareholder in GM, which faces decreasing sales.

The board of directors at Renault-Nissan agreed in principle to hold discussions if GM made the offer official.

GM's board of directors will discuss the matter on Friday.

Source: Xinhua