The government in Berlin has reached an agreement with the European Commission in a dispute over the future of cars with internal combustion engines.
Free way under certain conditions
The agreement was announced by the German Minister of Transport Volker Wissing and the Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. They have paved the way for vehicles with , which only use climate-neutral fuels, to be allowed on the road after 2035 as well. According to Wissing, a specific timetable was bindingly established. – We want this process to be completed until autumn 2024 he said.
Timmermans tweeted: “We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars.” He added that work will now be undertaken to ensure that the regulation on CO2 standards for cars is adopted as soon as possible.
Germany insisted on a special regulation
The European Parliament and EU member states already agreed last October that from 2035 only new zero-emission cars will be allowed to be registered in the EU. however, they insisted that even after this deadline, new cars with internal combustion engines running on e-fuels, i.e. climate-neutral artificial fuels produced using green electricity, could be registered.
The confirmation of the agreement by the EU countries, scheduled for early March, was therefore initially prevented by the . Since then, the German Ministry of Transport and the European Commission have been negotiating a compromise. Many EU partners reacted with irritation to Germany’s stance in this dispute. On Thursday (March 23, 2023), Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins spoke in front of the cameras on the sidelines of the EU summit about “a very, very difficult signal for the future”. It was surprising, he pointed out, that a government would suddenly change its mind after reaching an agreement. Krisjanis Karins warned: “The entire decision-making architecture would fall apart if we all did it.”
Among themselves, diplomats in Brussels spoke more explicitly and accused the Germans of breaching trust. In the meantime, however, other EU countries have expressed concerns about the future of internal combustion engine cars. For example, Italy has also opted for allowing cars to run on biofuels.
Berlin and the EU have reached an agreement on internal combustion engines. Greepeace very dissatisfied
sharply criticized the agreement between the German government and the European Commission that allows the registration of cars with internal combustion engines after 2035. “This poor compromise undermines climate protection in road traffic and harms Europe,” said Greepeace mobility expert Benjamin Stephan in Berlin.
In his opinion, “the auto industry’s urgently needed orientation towards efficient electromobility will be weakened with this agreement.” Benjamin Stephan accused the German chancellor of failing to stop the “ruthless EU blackmail” by the FDP. – After this disappointing result, it is all the more obvious that Scholz at tomorrow’s coalition commission must convince the FDP to take effective action to protect the climate in road traffic – said the expert He added, “instead of traversing the country on other climate-damaging highways, the federal government should now focus fully on railroad expansion.”
After weeks of disputes, the German government and the European Commission agreed on Friday evening (March 24, 2023) that new cars with internal combustion engines will also be registered after 2035 if they run on climate-neutral fuel. On Sunday, Scholz, together with the heads of the ruling parties SPD, the Greens and the FDP, will deal with other issues relevant to the fight against climate change at a meeting of the coalition committee. These include the expansion of highways and railway lines and the planned phase-out of oil and gas heating.
(dpa, rtr, afp/like)
Source: Gazeta
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