A serious mistake?
EPP boss wants to withdraw ban on combustion engines
March 31, 2024, 12:37 p.m
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The chairman of the EPP, Weber, fears that Europe could lose out on the markets of the future. From this he draws the conclusion: The European ban on combustion engines from 2035 should be “cured” after the European elections.
The chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, has urgently warned that European countries will be left behind in the markets of the future. “The latest economic figures are a loud alarm signal for Germany: economic success and prosperity are up for debate,” the CSU politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “We Europeans are losing massively to the competition in future markets, especially in markets that have previously brought us prosperity.” A quarter of all electric cars sold in the EU are expected to come from Chinese production this year.
Weber demanded: “We must protect Europe’s economy.” China is systematically trying to conquer markets for new future technologies using dumping methods, as has already happened with solar panels. “We cannot allow that,” said the EPP group leader in the European Parliament. “Free trade with China must also be fair.”
Weber called the European ban on combustion engines – from 2035 new cars that emit CO2 will no longer be allowed to be registered in the EU – a serious industrial policy mistake from which China benefits. The EPP leader announced that he wanted to “heal” the decision after the European elections.
The “Green Deal” – a package of European initiatives for the ecological restructuring of the economy and society – should not become a “China Deal”, warned Weber. “We need to focus on European jobs, not Chinese ones.”
A few weeks ago, the CDU and CSU also adopted a program for the European elections that called for an end to the ban on combustion engines: “We want to abolish the ban on combustion engines and preserve the cutting-edge German technology of the internal combustion engine and develop it further in a technology-neutral manner,” it says. This passage cannot be found in the program of the European Conservatives (EPP).