Ban from 2035: EU Parliament seals combustion engine off

The EU Parliament has finally voted to end the internal combustion engine. From 2035, only new cars that do not emit greenhouse gases should be sold in the EU. A controversial decision.

In twelve years, only new cars and vans that do not emit carbon dioxide will be allowed on Europe’s roads. The EU Parliament has sealed the de facto end of the internal combustion engine from 2035 – with 340 votes in favor and 279 against. In an interim step, the CO2 emissions of newly registered passenger cars and light commercial vehicles are to be reduced by around half by 2030.

Dutch Liberal Jan Huitema has chaired negotiations on the highly contentious issue. “This new legal regulation supports the changes that have already been initiated in the market,” he says. “It will help consumers to continue to drive affordably.”

It also opens up new opportunities for employees and gives manufacturers investment security. And: “It is important for climate protection and will make us less dependent on fossil fuels from third countries.”

“Don’t leave the key industry to others”

According to Frans Timmermans, deputy head of the EU Commission, if mobility is to remain affordable and clean, there is only one option: build more electric cars quickly. Europe’s vehicle manufacturers have long recognized this, says the Social Democrat, but so have competitors in the rest of the world.

China, for example, will launch 80 electric car models on the international market by the end of the year. “And we have to keep up. We don’t want to leave this key industry to others,” says Timmermans. “For that, we need to invest to transform Europe’s auto industry to build these electric cars for the global market.”

EPP Group: Thousands of jobs at risk

Emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases from road traffic have increased significantly over the past three decades. Nevertheless, members of the CDU and CSU from the Christian Democratic EPP parliamentary group vote against the combustion engine off.

The CDU politician Jens Gieseke speaks of madness and a technology-hostile wrong track that the majority is treading. Instead of lowering the fleet limit values ​​so that only electric cars can comply with them, Gieseke wants to let the market decide which technologies are needed for more climate protection. This is also better for employees in the auto industry.

“In Germany alone, 600,000 people work on vehicles with combustion engines, and their jobs are now at risk,” says Gieseke. The first consequences are visible: Battery cell production often goes to Canada or the USA.

FDP: Combustion engines are not harmful to the climate per se

The FDP MPs in the liberal parliamentary group also voted no. Jan-Christoph Oetjen explains that the combustion engine is not per se harmful to the climate, it depends on how it is fueled – with alternative fuels, a car with a combustion engine can be climate-neutral. There is no good reason to ban the combustion engine per se, says Oetjen. “Those who want to ban it are only afraid of innovation and competition. And that’s exactly what brings us forward in decarbonization.”

Greens: “E-fuels have no future”

SPD and Greens counter: The decision is good for the climate and good for the industry, emphasizes the social democrat Timo Wölken: “The manufacturers want to go this way, they need a legally secure framework. We can create it. If the EPP says here, it’s about employees, then I ask myself: Why are they denying them planning security?”

Green MP Michael Bloss opposes the idea that combustion engines can continue to run on synthetic fuels after 2035. “E-fuels are inefficient, they will always be more expensive, they have no future,” he says. “And that’s why we clearly rule that out in this law, even if some others claim otherwise.”

The AfD in the EU Parliament voted against the proposal. Her MP Sylvia Limmer called the bill “green nonsense”.