EU: backpedalling on combustion engine ban?
The EU Commission looks likely to backtrack on its plans to ban the combustion engine in 2035: in an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper, Sustainable Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas has declared himself "open to all technologies". Previously German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote a letter to Brussels asking it to continue to allow "highly efficient" combustion vehicles in addition to hybrid cars.
A sign of uncertainty
The Frankfurter Rundschau criticises Germany's initiative:
“The German government has managed to push European cars – and thus a key component of climate policy – back into the past. Instead of setting a clear course with the 2022 decision to start phasing out new combustion engines in 2035, the regulation is being opened for renegotiation. This is being sold as 'technological openness' when, in fact, it is a political sign of uncertainty. ... If the combustion engine is kept alive, it ushers in a fatal logic: why change course if the old technology is to have a future after all? It puts the brakes on the transition that is needed.”
Bans destroy the economy
The key thing now is to save whatever can be salvaged of the economy, the Handelsblatt declares:
“This is good news from Brussels at a time when Germany is seeing its economy in free fall every day. Not a week goes by without car parts suppliers throwing in the towel, skilled employees moving abroad, and entire value chains starting to shake. According to industry estimates, in the past few months alone, some 12,000 jobs have been slashed in the automotive and spare parts industry. ... The key thing now is to save whatever can be salvaged of the economy. But strict bans and deadlines will just destroy it.”
Late, jolting, but better than nothing
Weltwoche welcomes the change of course in Brussels:
“A letter from Berlin got the ball rolling: In this, Friedrich Merz implored his CDU party colleague and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to relax the rules and prevent the industry from collapsing. ... What a revelation: Brussels can listen. At least when things are on fire. And when the smoke reaches as far as the buildings of the Commission. The EU is now stepping in to rescue an industry that it had almost destroyed. For years, Brussels has been driving the car industry to the brink of engine failure with its ideological zeal. Now the Commission is hitting the brakes. Its new openness towards combustion engines is not progress but it's an emergency brake - late, jolting, but better than nothing.”
The future of the car industry is electric
Even with no fixed date for phasing out combustion engines, electric cars will catch on, Der Standard believes:
“The future of the car industry is electric; neither transport experts nor leading car manufacturers would dispute this. With batteries becoming ever cheaper, electric cars can compete with combustion engines on price: they are slightly cheaper to run and more fun to drive. Sales of fully electric cars throughout Europe are 30 percent higher than in 2024. China, the most important car market, is electrifying rapidly. ... Even with no phase-out date set, the days of the combustion engine are numbered.”
Stick to the target
The 2035 combustion engine ban is key to securing the future competitiveness of the European car industry, Benoît Leguet of the I4CE Institute for Climate Economics stresses in Les Echos:
“Weakening the target for 2035 would slow down this transformation and jeopardise all those efforts which have been made to structure the production chain for EVs - particularly in France. So we must stick to this target and provide the means to reach it, both in Europe and in France, by maintaining the measures that protect European carmakers from competition in the electric market. And by continuing to drive demand for EVs with budgetary or tax incentives.”