The federal government has reached an agreement with the EU Commission in the dispute over the future of cars with combustion engines. This was announced by Transport Minister Volker Wissing and EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The way has been cleared for vehicles with combustion engines that only use climate-neutral fuels to be re-registered after 2035.
According to Wissing, a concrete timetable has been fixed. “We want the process to be completed by autumn 2024.” Timmermans wrote: “We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars.” Work will now be done to ensure that the regulation on CO2 standards for cars is passed as soon as possible.
Germany insisted on a special arrangement
The European Parliament and EU states had already agreed in October that only emission-free new cars may be registered in the EU from 2035. However, Germany urged that new cars with combustion engines that fill up with e-fuels – i.e. climate-neutral artificial fuels that are produced with green electricity – can still be registered afterwards. A confirmation of the agreement by the EU states, which was planned for early March, was therefore initially prevented by Germany.
Since then, the Federal Ministry of Transport and the EU Commission have been negotiating a compromise. Many EU partners had reacted with irritation to Germany’s behavior in the dispute. On Thursday, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins spoke in front of the cameras on the sidelines of the EU summit of a “very, very difficult sign for the future”. It is surprising that a government suddenly decides differently after an agreement has already been reached. Karins warned, “The whole architecture of decision-making would fall apart if we all did that.”
Diplomats in Brussels expressed themselves more clearly behind closed doors. They accused Germany of a breach of trust. In the meantime, however, other countries have reported concerns about the internal combustion engine. Italy also spoke out in favor of allowing biofuel cars beyond 2035.
haz/pg (dpa, rtr, afp)