New cars in the parking lot. Illustrative photo.
Meseberg (Germany) – The dispute between the European Commission and the member states of the European Union on the ban on combustion engines in new passenger cars after 2035 and on the exemption for synthetic fuels is on the way to a resolution. Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing made this statement today at the German government's on-site meeting at Meseberg Castle in Brandenburg. He noted that part of the regulation must be openness to new technologies, which he sees in synthetic fuels. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who attended the meeting at Meseberg on Sunday, also spoke about technological openness.
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“We agreed that we have to meet our climate goals and that technological openness is also a very important factor. I can see that we are on the right track because we have the same goals,” Wissing said today about finding a solution to the dispute. At the same time, he stated that reaching a compromise may take longer and may not be a matter of days.
Similarly, von der Leyen spoke to journalists on Sunday. “We are conducting a constructive dialogue. I want to emphasize once again that full support of the principle of technological openness is important,” said the head of the commission. “But it is always necessary to have our climate-political goals in balance,” she added, adding that it is the balance that is being worked on now.
The Czech Republic has the same attitude towards synthetic fuels as Germany. Czech Minister of Transport Martin Kupka spoke with Wissing on this topic last week on Friday in Berlin. Kupka then announced that the Czech Republic would not support the aforementioned ban on internal combustion engines in passenger cars if it was not possible to use synthetic fuel in cars. These fuels were part of the agreement that was reached during the Czech presidency of the EU Council.
The current Swedish presidency announced on Friday that the ambassadors of the member countries decided to postpone the final approval of the proposal, which would practically make it impossible to buy from 2035 new car using petrol or diesel.
