Combustion off from 2035
Green politician swung to the FDP line on e-fuels
03/02/2023 12:19 p.m
The FDP is getting surprising support in the fight against a blanket ban on combustion engines from 2035: from the green-led Ministry of Economic Affairs. According to State Secretary Giegold, e-fuel engines are an alternative to conventional combustion engines. Accordingly, there is an appeal to the EU Commission.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing has already opposed a blanket ban on the registration of new combustion engines from 2035, and now the green-led Ministry of Economic Affairs is stepping in to help. State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Greens politician Sven Giegold said on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels: “We as Germany have always said: ‘We support the end of old, conventional combustion engines, but we want a solution outside of the fleet limits, i.e. outside of this law for such combustion engines that are only operated with sustainable e-fuels.'” The EU Commission must now convince all coalition partners that such measures are being taken, Giegold demanded.
Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU states had already agreed in October that from 2035 only new cars that do not emit greenhouse gases during operation may be sold in the EU. It is planned that the Council of Member States will finally vote on it next Tuesday. Wissing threatened that Germany would not be able to agree and justified this by saying that the EU Commission had not yet submitted a proposal on how only vehicles fueled with climate-friendly fuels such as e-fuels could be approved after 2035. This was part of the agreement in the Council of EU States in June 2022, with which the FDP could be persuaded to agree within the federal government.
Giegold now said he was optimistic that a solution could be found if the EU Commission appeared credible to the federal government and the German ministers. Difficult talks were going on at the moment.