In the federal government, the FDP has threatened a veto. However, the environment minister wants to ignore this when she negotiates with her EU colleagues on new specifications for car manufacturers this Tuesday.
Despite the concerns of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), Environment Minister Steffi Lemke wants to agree to the planned end of combustion cars in the EU Environment Committee this Tuesday. “It is important to me that the federal government will support the Commission here in Luxembourg today with the goal that from 2035 no more cars will be registered that emit CO₂,” said the Green politician in ZDF’s “Morgenmagazin”. “That is the line that the federal government has represented here in recent weeks and months, which is also laid down in the coalition agreement.” However, it will make it clear that there are areas, for example in fire-fighting vehicles, where there are still no alternative fuels.
The negotiations in the EU Environment Council are likely to be lengthy and last into the night. “If the package then includes what the Commission proposed, no approval of cars that emit CO₂ after 2035, then we will agree,” said Lemke. The EU Commission is calling for a switch to electric drives.
On Monday there was still no agreed position in the federal government on the end of combustion engines. Finance Minister Lindner had threatened a blockade within last week. Germany would then have to abstain from a possible ban on internal combustion engines at European level.