Germany faces EU backlash over U-turn on phasing out combustion engine
Germany is facing a growing backlash inside the EU over its U-turn on a law to phase out the combustion engine in new cars by 2035, despite signs of an end to the standoff with Brussels.
The row comes amid growing concerns over France’s push to include nuclear across a swathe of laws on green technologies, a further signal of tensions over the EU green deal, landmark proposals to tackle the climate crisis.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said “we will find an agreement” amid signs Berlin was edging towards a compromise with the European Commission over the role of e-fuels in a law to ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2035. But his transport minister, Volker Wissing, a senior member of the pro-business Free Democratic party, which has led Germany’s last-minute opposition, said there were still questions to be answered. “We are not fully in agreement yet,” Wissing said.
The squabble overshadowed an EU summit in Brussels dedicated to the war on Ukraine, and Europe’s economy and banking system, although officials said there were no formal talks on the dispute.
Yet on the sidelines of the summit, some EU leaders could barely hide their irritation with Berlin’s decision to renege on a done deal after months of painstaking negotiations.
EU ministers and MEPs struck an agreement to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 last October, a law hailed as a major step on the way to climate neutrality. Days before the text was going to be rubber-stamped earlier this month, Germany announced it would not proceed unless there was a place for climate-neutral e-fuels, in addition to battery-powered electric vehicles.
Latvia’s prime minister, Krisjāniš Kariņš, described Germany’s behaviour as
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