Negotiations with the EU: is the dispute over combustion engines off the table?

Status: 03/24/2023 09:25 a.m

The dispute between the EU Commission and the Federal Ministry of Transport about the planned end for combustion engines is apparently not over yet. Minister Wissing may sound optimistic, but FDP Secretary General Djir-Sarai has now rowed back.

FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai denied an agreement between the Federal Ministry of Transport and the EU Commission on the planned phase-out of vehicles with combustion engines. “I can’t confirm that this argument is off the table,” he shared Morning magazine from ARD and ZDF.

This will only be the case if the EU Commission presents a “very clear legal requirement” according to which combustion engines with synthetic fuels, so-called e-fuels, may also be in operation after 2035.

According to Wissing, all questions answered

For Djir-Sarai’s party colleague, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing, it had previously sounded like an imminent agreement. Wissing told the dpa news agency that they had consulted closely with the EU Commission and, after careful consideration, submitted a constructive proposal for a solution. “We assume that this not only satisfactorily answers all content-related questions, but also the legal ones.”

Nothing should stand in the way of the approval of newly registered vehicles with e-fuels “even after 2035,” said Wissing. It is now expected that the EU Commission will issue a corresponding declaration, name clear time targets and initiate the process for corresponding legal acts. The “Spiegel” had also reported on an imminent agreement.

Letter sent to Brussels

On Thursday evening, Wissing’s ministry sent a letter in reply to the EU Commission’s latest proposed solutions to Brussels, according to government circles in Berlin. At the beginning of the week, their proposals became known.

Accordingly, the authority defined a draft of criteria for the approval of new vehicles that are exclusively operated with CO2-neutral fuels. The background to this is a fundamental agreement between the European Parliament and EU states, according to which only zero-emission new cars may be registered in the EU from 2035.

However, Germany is urging that new cars with internal combustion engines that run on e-fuels – i.e. climate-neutral artificial fuels that are produced with green electricity – be permitted after this. A confirmation of the agreement by the EU states, which was planned for early March, was therefore initially prevented by Germany.

Support for German proposal grows

In some countries, the German blockade attitude had met with clear criticism, the Latvian and Belgian Prime Ministers, for example, expressed incomprehension. But the federal government is not alone with its position. Italy and Austria, for example, are also committed to e-fuels.

After the first day of the summit, Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that there was a lot of approval for what he calls the “green combustion engine”. According to him, it also came from a country that had previously criticized Germany’s actions: “France also supports this position now. This is an important signal for us that we will remain technology and innovation friendly.”

Combustion dispute: Transport Minister Wissing hopes for an agreement with the EU

Mario Kubina, ARD Berlin, March 24, 2023 7:44 a.m

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