Furious Italy. What changes now?

It is not possible to go back, yes to clarify. The desk Ue from the Automobiles rewards Berlin and displeases Rome and, behind the limelight of a European Council with a very crowded agenda, the debated political stalemate on the stop to heat engines dal 2035 seems to have found its way: the Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz will be able to return home with the promise of Brussels of the clarifications requested on e-fuels, which the automotive industry will be able to continue to use. A compromise to be perfected in the next few days but “disadvantageous” for Rome, which for weeks has been calling for the green light also for biofuels with a line that the premier Giorgia Meloni he also expressed directly to Ursula von der Leyen. And that ends up exacerbating the tension – already high due to the game still to be played on nuclear power – with Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron did not like the strenuous German resistance to reopen an already closed agreement complete with the seal of the European Parliament .

Stop thermal cars, Meloni: «The EU must not decide on technologies for green transition objectives»

Plan

Planned on the table of the Europa Building after two weeks of intense negotiations, Berlin’s about-face on the electric car is partly forgiven by the European Commission which, announced the vice-president responsible for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, is working “on the within the framework of the agreement» to be «more explicit on the reference to e-fuels» already present in the text. Avoiding reopening an agreement already approved by national governments and in the last reading by the European Parliament, and reassuring the bellicose liberal structure of the German majority coalition by including totally – and legally binding – engines powered by synthetic fuels in the EU regulatory framework. The idea summarized by Scholz is to arrive in the coming months at “an ad hoc regulation” developed by Brussels “to ensure that after 2035 e-fuel vehicles can continue to be registered”. A solution that – in view of the possible official announcement on Tuesday on the sidelines of the ministerial among EU energy ministers – disappoints Italy, committed to saving biofuels as well, but also Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, allies of a hostile coalition even to the new Euro7 standards.

Leaving them in a minority with no more possibility of blocking the final ratification of the Twenty-seven. Berlin’s success does not make Paris rejoice – albeit for diametrically opposite reasons – determined to remain “vigilant” on the rigorous implementation of the stop to internal combustion engines and increasingly nervous about the German about-face on the whole green line, starting from the Berlin’s eternal ‘nein’ on nuclear power. And while resources are being sought to finance the Net-Zero industrial plan – the reference to the possible establishment of a common sovereignty fund is still vague – the Scholz-Macron axis has been undermined for weeks now by the inclusion of the atom among the technologies “strategic” which will benefit from easier permits and public aid to accompany the green transition, avoiding a mass relocation of EU companies towards the sirens of the 369 billion dollar maxi-subsidies given by the Biden administration in the Inflation Reduction Act. fighting weeks on the, according to him disappointing, plan proposed by the EU, the head of the Elysium is determined to keep the point so that the atom “is not discriminated against” and is included in the list of key technologies of the Net-Zero. The imminent face-to-face with Scholz is unlikely to be decisive.

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