The European People’s Party will soon table a proposal to scrap legislation banning the sale of combustion engine cars and vans by 2035 to help the local auto industry, according to Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right group in the European Parliament.
In an interview with the German daily Welt, published on Saturday, Weber said that the law – a key part of the European Commission’s pre-pandemic Green Deal agenda to tackle climate change – needed to be revised urgently to ensure the bloc’s carmakers do not suffer.
“I promise Europeans the end of the combustion engine phase-out.”, Weber said, referring to the legislation and promising a proposal to reverse it this autumn.
“The ideological mistakes of the last legislative period must be corrected”, he said. “It is important that we secure jobs in the automotive industry and win over the workers.”
The legislation setting a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars and vans by the middle of the next decade was closed in 2023, effectively pushing the industry toward battery electric models.
The law eventually passed despite stiff opposition from parts of the car industry and from major carmaking countries such as Germany, Italy and Hungary which wanted changes to the final text.
With Chinese electric car companies increasingly making moves in Europe, and flagship local brands such as Volkswagen and Renault struggling to compete, there has been growing pressure on the EU to weaken the rules.
It’s unclear whether the European Commission will agree to support any plan to weaken the vehicle emission rules.
(ab)
