Germany is opening up to resolve the internal combustion engine crisis that has strained its relationship with Brussels and refined the summit of leaders held this Thursday and Friday in the Belgian capital. Berlin assures that it will accept the European Commission’s proposal to create a new category of vehicles using the so-called e-fuels as soon as the European sales ban on new cars with internal combustion engines that run on fossil fuels comes into force in 2035 . But the summit ended without a solution to the dispute. The Liberal-controlled German transport ministry wants guarantees to back that pledge and says it is still negotiating legal details with the commission.
The Liberals of the FDP, one of the partners in the German coalition – with the Social Democrats and the Greens – have blocked a key agreement in the European strategy to combat climate change for domestic political interests. The European executive is keen to end a row that has threatened trust in the EU’s legal framework. Transport Minister Volker Wissing assured on Friday afternoon on German public television that the agreement was “very close”. Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said at the end of the summit in Brussels that he expected a quick solution.
In a statement sent to Brussels on Thursday evening, Wissing declared his willingness to accept the Commission’s proposal, which was made at the end of October after tough negotiations by all parties (Commission, Parliament and Council on behalf of the twenty-seven). Both the European executive and the most anti-German countries, starting with France, had flatly refused to revise the text, as this would not only have forced a return to zero and renegotiations in all institutions – a process that would take years – but, warned capitals like Paris or Madrid, jeopardizing European competitiveness in terms of electric cars against rivals, especially China and the USA, which already have a strong advantage.
In exchange for not revising the autotext, Berlin wants more guarantees that from 2035 it will be allowed to sell vehicles that use synthetic fuels, says Der Spiegel, which says it has seen the German response. To this end, Germany is calling on the Commission to commit to presenting a “delegated act” by next autumn on how e-fuel vehicles can contribute to the EU targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Delegated acts are a non-legislative instrument available to the Commission, on a proposal from the European Parliament or the Council, to “supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of a legislative act”. The Commission had previously proposed that Germany accept e-fuel cars as long as manufacturers create specific mechanisms to ensure these vehicles cannot run on fossil fuels under any circumstances after 2035.
“I know that journalism is also an entertainment business and that they think it’s totally stupid that we just come to an agreement,” said Scholz in Brussels. “But that’s going to happen, and pretty quickly,” he added. Wissing emphasizes that Germany agrees with the basic agreement, according to which only zero-emission vehicles may be newly registered from 2035. “We are not questioning the goal of only allowing climate-neutral vehicles from 2035 onwards. We have never done that,” he stressed the liberal minister.
What Berlin intends is not to rule out any technological option in relation to internal combustion engines, where Germany is a leader. If these can work with e-fuels that are produced with renewable energy and are climate-neutral, they should not be banned, adds the minister, who insists the engines must have sensors that avoid using fossil fuels. Critics of synthetic fuels recall that their production requires a lot of energy, that they are scarce and that more is needed in sectors such as aviation or maritime transport that are difficult to electrify.
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Germany’s surprising refusal to ratify the agreement in early March has strained the already complicated relationship between the three governing parties in Germany. The German Economics Minister, the Green Robert Habeck, assured on a visit to Denmark on Friday morning that, in his opinion, the dispute had already been settled. The Commission has limited itself to acknowledging receipt of the German proposal, on which it has not commented at this time as it is under study. At the end of the first day of the summit, the President of the European Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, also German, said she was “confident” about the possibility of a quick agreement due to the “will of both parties to solve the problem within the framework agreed between the Council and the European provisional agreement reached by Parliament”.
Von der Leyen emphasized a speed that is essential during his appearance in front of the press: “In this case, time is crucial, because [el acuerdo sobre los motores de combustión] it’s an important pillar in our Fit for 55 package,” he recalled on Thursday evening. When the agreement reached in the trilogue format (European Commission, Parliament and Council) was announced at the end of October, all parties had agreed on a “historic” text, as it is the first legislative pact as part of the new European strategy to strengthen the EU acted on the fight against climate change, which aims for the EU to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Although the topic was not officially on the agenda of the heads of state and government this Thursday and Friday in Brussels, as each of the heads of state and government consulted emphasized, the German no was the big specter, which was quite harmonious for an appointment by the way . The fears continue, as made clear by several European leaders and even the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, in reference to the specific deal on cars, important as it may be. The concern that has plagued Brussels since the first and unexpected German rejection is that it will set a dangerous precedent that calls into question the entire structure of the European institutions’ legislative compacts.
“If we act like this, the entire European decision-making architecture would collapse,” warned Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins on his arrival in the Belgian capital.
Metsola made clear his concern about the German manoeuvres. In a letter sent this week to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country holds the current EU presidency, the Maltese lawyer warned that delays in finally approving the deal should be a mere formality “which could undermine the credibility of the undermine the European legislative process”. And it can also, Metsola wrote in his letter, which EL PAÍS was able to consult, “undermine” the “trust” between the negotiating parties and cause “uncertainty” about the agreed commitments on legislative matters.
The President of the European Parliament reiterated her concerns speaking to the press on Thursday after attending the leaders’ summit, where she stressed the importance of “legislative predictability”.
“Anything that aims to undermine or reduce the legal predictability that we need as the European Union is something we will always caution against,” Metsola said. “If we are asked to legislate in a certain area, we must do so. And if we do that, we have to present results (…) we cannot reverse agreements because the credibility of the legislative process is at stake,” he warned, adding: “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
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