The vice president of the European Commission for the European Green Pact, Frans Timmermans, announced this Saturday an agreement with Germany to lift its veto on the ban on combustion engines in 2035.
“We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of synthetic fuels in cars,” Timmermans announced on his Twitter account.
Brussels had raised a possible fit of synthetic fuels in the framework of the negotiations for the ban on the sale of combustion vehicles in the European Union (EU) from 2035, a measure that had been paralyzed due to the fact that the Government German wants to include this type of fuel in the agreement.
The last step for the definitive adoption of the ban on the marketing of combustion vehicles -including gasoline, diesel and hybrid vehicles- from 2035 was postponed on March 3 due to last-minute doubts expressed by Germany and Italy.
This new regulation is part of the climate package that the EU wants to promote this legislature to reduce the block’s polluting emissions by at least 55% on the horizon of 2030 and with respect to those of 1990.
The measure was already approved in the plenary session of the European Parliament on February 14, but it was in the negotiations at the ambassadorial level where Germany showed its reluctance about an agreement between institutions that was already agreed last autumn.
“Now we are going to work so that the CO2 standards for cars are adopted as soon as possible,” added Timmermans, before warning that the legal framework for the synthetic fuels will only be developed when the basic agreement is unlocked and adopted. for the 27.
For his part, the German Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, promoter of the change, has stated on his Twitter account that “vehicles with internal combustion engines may continue to be registered after 2035 if they refuel exclusively with emission-neutral fuels of CO2”. “Europe remains technologically neutral,” added the Liberal Democrat minister.
Once the dispute with Germany is resolved, the blocking minority in the Council that it formed with Italy to stop the measure is diluted and the only thing left is for the matter to return to the agenda of a forthcoming European council of ministers to submit the final adoption to a vote. of the 27.
