“Revolt against the 2035 target”
France’s Minister of Transport makes a clear statement to Wissing
3/8/2023, 6:12 p.m
The EU actually wanted to have already decided to ban cars that emit CO2 – but Transport Minister Wissing opposed it. France is now issuing a clear call to submit.
France is calling on Germany to give up its blockade on the EU regulation phasing out the internal combustion engine by 2035. “We have to keep this goal in mind, which is very important, also for our industry, in France, in Germany,” said Transport Minister Clément Beaune to the broadcaster LCI. “I spoke to my German counterpart yesterday, because it is above all he who is leading this form of revolt against the 2035 target.”
The EU had had to postpone the final decision planned for last week to phase out combustion engines from 2035. The reason for this is the resistance of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing to a regulation that does not take synthetic fuels, so-called e-fuels, into account. The FDP politician calls for a proposal from the EU Commission. Italy, Poland and Bulgaria also do not want to agree to the end of combustion engines, which is part of the comprehensive EU climate protection package. Together with Germany, these countries would have a blocking minority.
The EU Parliament and the member states had already agreed in October that from 2035 only new vehicles would be permitted that do not emit carbon dioxide (CO2). At the insistence of the FDP, an additional passage was passed, according to which the EU Commission should investigate whether vehicles with e-fuel-capable combustion engines could not be approved in the future. Beaune pointed out that the agreement was reached in October with Germany’s explicit consent.
Quarrel at the traffic light
The topic is one of the biggest points of contention in the traffic light coalition. The Greens, such as Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, are in contrast to Wissing, fully behind the ban on combustion engines from 2035. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the cabinet meeting in Meseberg that the federal government agreed that they assumed that the European Commission would make a proposal how e-fuels could be used after 2035.
The economist Veronika Grimm criticized the debate about e-fuels in Germany. “I’m convinced that we’re having mock discussions that are completely irrelevant,” she told Die Zeit. E-fuels are far too expensive, so battery-powered cars will prevail anyway. In Germany, the CDU is also calling for staying “open to technology” and is in favor of an e-fuels regulation. Group Vice Jens Spahn told ntv.de that if they didn’t have a chance on the market anyway, they wouldn’t have to be banned.