BIt was recently unclear what position the German government would take at the crucial meeting of EU environment ministers on the future of the internal combustion engine. Would Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) vote in Luxembourg for the out, as the federal government has done for months? Or would she initially abstain after the clear “no” from Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) a week ago and advocate a compromise, such as allowing new cars with combustion engines fueled with e-fuels to be sold on?
The coalition discipline actually left her no choice. The iron rule applies here: If the government does not have a coordinated position, it must abstain in the Council of Ministers. There have been no other signals from the Ministry of the Environment in the past few days. There was speculation as to whether Lemke would agree to the EU plans to end the combustion engine if necessary without the backing of the federal government. That would not be a precedent: in 2017, the then Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt (CSU) voted for a longer use of the controversial pesticide glyphosate at EU level, despite a veto from the Ministry of the Environment. However, one does not want such an escalation of the coalition dispute, it said.
Suddenly Lemke sounded completely different
It was all the more puzzling that Lemke announced in an interview with the “ZDF-Morgenmagazin” on Tuesday morning before the start of the ministerial meeting in Luxembourg that he would agree to the end of the combustion engine. “It is important to me that the federal government will support the Commission here in Luxembourg today with the goal that from 2035 no more cars will be registered that emit CO2,” she said. “That is the line that the federal government has represented here in the last few weeks and months, which is also laid down in the coalition agreement.” In addition, it must be made clear that other fuels can also be used outside of the passenger car sector. She mentioned fire engines as well as shipping and air transport.
She was apparently trying to give the impression that the FDP’s concerns were being taken into account. In fact, however, this corresponds to the Commission proposal anyway. Climate protectors cheered. Two government sources have confirmed that the federal government will support the end of combustion engines in 2035, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), who is attending the meeting in Luxembourg together with Lemke, supports Lemke, according to Berlin.
But when Lemke appeared in front of the media a short time later at the start of the ministerial meeting in the Luxembourg Council building, she suddenly sounded very different. She initially spoke primarily about deforestation-free supply chains and the restoration of ecosystems and the other climate dossiers that are on the agenda of the environment ministers on Tuesday. But then she said: “We will be holding talks and negotiations here on the line of the coalition agreement and the line that the federal government has agreed with one another, so that the Commission can develop a mechanism here on how CO2 reduction can also happen in the future, but also openness to technology is guaranteed.” And then again: “We represent the common line of the federal government, which on the one hand wants to support a strong CO2 reduction for the transport sector and on the other hand wants to guarantee openness to technology.”