The European Commission announced this Saturday that it has reached an agreement with Germany to authorize the approval of the standard defining the end of internal combustion vehicles. By making a clear exception for cars that use a certain type of fuel, the so-called synthetic or e-fuels, which are carbon neutral. Berlin had paralyzed the already agreed and negotiated European regulation for weeks, which stipulates that from 2035 cars with polluted engines may no longer be registered in the Union. The German veto and the way it was carried out had created great tensions with Brussels and with other member states.
“We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of synthetic fuels in cars,” Green Pact Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said on Twitter. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing has confirmed the pact: “Vehicles with combustion engines can only be registered after 2035 if they use CO₂-neutral fuels,” he said. Brussels wants the standard CO₂ regulation to be passed as soon as possible, Timmermans said.
In the past few days, Berlin had been open to accepting the EU Commission’s proposal to create a new category of vehicles with e-fuels after the European ban on the sale of new cars with combustion engines came into force in 2035. However, the agreement was only reached after the summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.
Olaf Scholz’s executive unleashed the storm when he announced in early March that he would vote against plans to ban internal combustion engine cars from 2035 unless an exemption for so-called synthetic fuels or e-fuels is included. This came surprisingly and at the last minute after two years of negotiations that had resulted in an agreement between the Commission, Parliament and Council that only needed to be ratified.
Behind Berlin’s last-minute demand are the Liberals, partners in Scholz’s three-party coalition, who wanted to establish themselves in public opinion as defenders of the interests of the powerful German auto industry. The step taken by the federal government, which turned against the Commission and quite a few European countries, cannot be explained without knowledge of the delicate balance of power in Berlin. The Liberals, who were lost in the polls and after a series of defeats in the state elections, had to assert themselves against Scholz and, above all, the Greens and show their profile.
Its Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, has endorsed the arguments of some of the manufacturers who are in favor of leaving the door open so that cars with combustion engines can use emission-free fuels in the future. The party, which represents just 5% of current voting intention, also has a majority of Germans on its side, at 67%, who believe that new cars with internal combustion engines should no longer be banned after 2035, according to a recent public opinion commissioned survey reveals television.
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That door was actually already open, Commission sources say. The wording of the standard was ambiguous enough to allow the use of climate-neutral fuels in all engine types. In addition, sources in Brussels assure that the spirit of the measure was also understood in the regulation. But the Liberals, and by extension Germany, have been pushing for this exception to be literally enshrined in legislation. They demanded a written commitment that the use of e-fuels would be specifically regulated. Some German manufacturers, especially high-end manufacturers, have been working on the development of synthetic fuels for years and, on the other hand, are lagging behind in the deployment of electric vehicles, a sector in which China and even the United States are leading the industry. German.
The German maneuver has left the EU Commission and some member states worried that other countries will demand a resumption of the whole agreement (Italy, for example, calls for a separate solution for biofuels). This would jeopardize the largest package called Fit for 55, which aims to guarantee the EU will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, sources in Brussels say.
EU-27 energy ministers are due to review the deal on Tuesday, but it is expected to go back to just the original proposal as the derogation won by Germany is expected to remain in a so-called delegated act (a legal text the or supplements a regulation), and that can be done later when some technical details have just been incorporated, the same sources explain.
E-fuels are climate-neutral artificial fuels (e.g. e-methane or e-kerosene) that are produced with green electricity, e.g. B. from renewable or low-carbon sources. Currently they are in their infancy, they are very expensive to produce which is why they are in short supply and various studies show that they will not be a cheap and plentiful option even by 2035, quite the contrary. The organization Transport & Environment calculated this week that they would increase the average cost of filling a deposit to 210 euros. In 2030, this type of fuel would cost around 2.8 euros per liter, 50% more than the fossil fuels currently used (petrol and diesel).
The proposal made by the Commission this week in Berlin to overcome its opposition specifically states that internal combustion engine cars must incorporate a technological solution in the form of sensors that recognize the type of fuel used so that the vehicle cannot even start when fueled with fossils. European legislation dictates that from 2035 cars that use petrol or diesel will no longer be sold, but cars that are already registered will be able to continue driving for a few more years and fill up at traditional petrol stations. Brussels wants to ensure that the exception does not allow cars to continue to be fueled with fossil fuels that are only supposed to run on climate-neutral e-fuels.
After learning about the agreement, one of the social democratic Scholz health ministers, Karl Lauterbach, tweeted something that pretty much everyone knew: “Cars with e-fuels use six times more electricity than electric cars. These are niche products that will never come into fashion.” Experts say this type of fuel is more useful in sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation or maritime transport. With cars, it will be difficult to generalize. That is why Germany’s role in Brussels was greeted with surprise and indignation. Many allies see this as institutional disloyalty, which opens a very dangerous door because if Berlin, a theoretically reliable partner, dares to jeopardize an important environmental and economic norm, who will be able to stop other partners who constantly opposed to the legislative body of the EU? Block?
Voices like that of Spain’s third vice-president and minister for ecological transition have defined the agreement reached this Saturday as “good news” that “releases” what has become a major point of friction.
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