General Motors said on Wednesday that it would not close any of its four Opel plants in Germany, a decision that appeared to be intended to earn favor with the officials in Berlin who control billions of euros in aid for the unit’s reorganization.

GM had agreed in May to sell a majority stake in Opel to Magna International, a Canadian-Austrian auto parts company, and Sberbank, its Russian partner.

To the dismay of workers and the government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, GM threw out that agreement earlier this month and said that it would restructure Opel, which plays a central role in its development of smaller cars.

About 9,000 jobs will be eliminated in Europe, with 50 percent to 60 percent of the cuts coming in Germany, Nick Reilly, the head of GM’s international operations, said in Ruesselsheim, Germany, after meetings with government officials and workers’ representatives.

Reilly said the unit’s four German plants would remain in operation, but added that the reorganization plan was not final. He said the fate of the Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium, long seen as vulnerable, was “uncertain” and that GM would consider “all alternatives.”

Reilly also said that the company would cut a layer of Opel management and move its European headquarters to Ruesselsheim from Zurich.

The company’s need for government financial aid — it seeks about $5 billion — has led to fears that it will close plants and concentrate layoffs at plants in Spain, Britain, Poland and Belgium to keep the German government on board. About 25,000 of Opel’s 50,000 European employees are in Germany.