Following talks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German politician Manfred Weber (CSU) sees an end to the dispute over the future of cars with combustion engines in Europe. Instead of 100% there should now be a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions that is binding for car manufacturers from 2035 onwards, he explained in conversation with the Bild newspaper. According to Weber, the EU Commission intends to present this as a proposal in the coming weeks.
Weber also added a future 100% reduction in CO2 emissions won’t happen. However, representatives of the EU member states and the European Parliament still need to approve these changes. If that happens, it would be “an important signal for the entire automotive industry and would safeguard tens of thousands of jobs in the sector”.
The combustion phase-out goes back to an EU regulation on fleet emission limits for cars. With this maximum limit, the EU sets out how much carbon dioxide all newly registered cars from the same manufacturer are allowed to emit on average per year. The maximum limit that the EU had set so far would have fallen to 0 in 2035. This would not have meant an outright ban on cars with combustion engines, but since under the current state of technology they still emit CO2, manufacturers who continue to build and sell such cars would have had to expect to pay fines.
Weber stressed that with this compromise “we are keeping our two important promises: we are staying on the path toward climate neutrality, but we are also ensuring technology neutrality. That is an important signal for the entire automotive sector”.
Europe’s industry, backed by politicians including German Chancellor Merz, Italian Prime Minister Meloni, and Polish Prime Minister Tusk, there has been demanding to soften these rules. The EU Commission had originally planned to present the revised draft text on fleet emission limits this week. This has now already been postponed to next week.
Weber’s comments to Bild have so far not been confirmed by the EU Commission.
