Germany blocks EU ban on fuel cars at the last minute

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 21:38

The EU decision to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 is met with last-minute resistance from Germany. The final decision was supposed to be made today in the Council of the EU, in which all countries are represented, but that has been postponed.

The German governing party FDP does not appear to support the law. And since in Germany the government has to support an EU decision unanimously, the country is abstaining from voting. As a result, the law does not have enough supporters – to the anger of the other member states. An attempt by European Commission President von der Leyen to convince the German government was unsuccessful.

Passing the law should have been no more than a hammer blow. The European Parliament already expressed its support in October, today only the member states had to give their formal consent. “It is very exceptional that a country still withdraws at the end of the process,” says EU expert Max Eleveld of the Clingendael Institute. “This will not have happened more than a handful of times.”

Guarantee

The liberal FDP only wants to agree to a ban on fuel cars if there is a guarantee that the sale of cars that run on synthetic fuel will remain possible. The European Commission promised to look into whether these types of e-fuels are indeed a green alternative, but does not want to guarantee anything.

The Germans now want a commitment from the Commission that cars that run on those fuels may also be sold after 2035. Brussels says it is working on a proposal, but FDP minister Christian Lindner called it “unlikely that the Commission will do in the coming days what it has not done for months.”

EU-correspondent Ardy Stemerding:

“There is great irritation in Brussels about this move by the Germans. ‘You expect this from the Hungarians, not from the Germans,’ you hear from EU diplomats. There is a fear that this will set a precedent: that other countries in the future come up with new requirements even though the entire legislative process has already been completed.

The European Commission is now looking for a way to accommodate the Germans without reopening negotiations. This means that the Commission is at most promising in somewhat firmer terms to look at the possibilities with e-fuels in the future. But whether that will be enough for the Germans is still unclear.”

The approval of the ban is politically very important for the European Commission: it is the first proposal of the Green Deal, which aims to reduce European CO2 emissions by 55 percent by 2030.

Political credit

It is not surprising that the FDP considers this a major issue: Germany has a large car industry, which provides more than 750,000 jobs. The FDP seems to want to win over that sector with this blockade, but according to Eleveld it is a politically risky action. “You go against the agreements that the EU has made together. It is striking that it is played so highly.”

E-fuels can also be used by internal combustion engine cars, with relatively few modifications. Some parties in the automotive sector therefore see them as a possible sustainable option. Critics are less enthusiastic: the development of synthetic petrol and diesel is still in its infancy. They also believe that the electricity used for the production of e-fuels can be better used directly for electric cars.

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