PARIS (CNN) -- French officials threw cold water Wednesday on reports that the Eiffel Tower -- the very symbol of Paris and the French nation -- might fall under the control of American industrial giant General Motors.

Reports that GM might end up running the Eiffel tower came after a Paris councilman pointed out that if General Motors buys controlling interesting in the bank Credit Foncier de France, it will also pick up the company that runs the tower.

GM is reportedly in talks to buy the bank which also owns a firm called The New Corporation for the Exploitation of the Eiffel Tower (SNTE). SNTE runs the tower for the city of Paris.

But Mayor Jean Tiberi said there would never be a question about who owns the Eiffel Tower. And Wednesday, the Minister of Finance Dominique Strauss Kahn backed him up making two major points:

1. SNTE only runs the tower. The tower is actually owned by the city which has licensed the company to run it; and
2. The city of Paris, under its contracts with SNTE, has the right of final refusal of anyone named to the corporation's board and any changes in the corporation's charter.

Thus, said Strauss Kahn, even if GM eventually buys the bank, and the bank continues to own a majority stake in the SNTE, GM cannot, without the approval of the city of Paris, make any changes in the way the tower operates and will not own the tower.