The EU Commission and the German Ministry of Transport have found a compromise in the dispute over the end of combustion engines. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) announced on Saturday that they had reached an agreement late on Friday evening. Now the way is clear for vehicles with combustion engines that only use CO₂-neutral fuels to be re-registered after 2035. The climate-neutral e-fuels should have their own vehicle category and be integrated into the new regulation.
This was preceded by an exchange of letters between Berlin and Brussels. On Thursday evening, the Ministry of Transport sent the decisive compromise proposal to Brussels, and according to insiders, the EU Commission had largely responded to it.
The German transport minister had previously split the EU with his blocking stance. Under his leadership, a group of member countries wanted to retrospectively enforce an exemption for e-fuels in the legal text, although the governments had already agreed on a different position last year. Actually, cars with combustion engines should no longer be registered in the EU countries from 2035 onwards.