EU lawmaker group to challenge combustion engine ban this year
The ban's supporters say it is crucial to Europe's green ambitions and guiding the automotive sector's low-carbon transformation. But critics say it will handicap European carmakers already struggling with weak demand, Chinese competition and disappointing electric vehicle sales.
Jens Gieseke, the centre-right European People's Party's (EPP) negotiator on car policies, told Reuters the group would use a planned review of the policy in the third or fourth quarter to seek amendments.
It will propose changes such as allowing sales of combustion engine cars running on synthetic fuels and biofuels as well as plug-in hybrid vehicles beyond 2035.
"It was a mistake to ban the combustion engine," said Gieseke, a German EU lawmaker. "If fuels lead to a less carbon-intensive footprint, this should be recognised."
The European Commission - whose president, Ursula von der Leyen, belongs to the EPP - has so far resisted pressure to weaken the 2035 policy, which it says provides investment certainty.
However, the Commission last week brought forward a 2026 review of the policy to this year, and yielded to pressure from automakers by giving them three years, rather than one, to comply with 2025 emission limits.
Gieseke said if other EU lawmakers agreed, the 2035 target could be brought into negotiations on the 2025 limits as early as next month.
A majority of the European Parliament and a reinforced majority of EU countries must approve any changes to the car policies.
Italy and the Czech Republic, plus the party of Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz, have vowed to revise the 2035 target. But a senior EU diplomat said that, for now, most countries did not support amending the goal.
The EPP holds 188 of the 720 seats in the European Parliament but would need other lawmaker groups' support for any changes.
Right-wing EU lawmakers favour changing the 2035 policy. But the Socialists and Greens oppose weakening emissions goals, and argue the focus should be supporting carmakers to transition to electric vehicles and catch up with Chinese competitors.
Socialist EU lawmaker Mohammed Chahim warned during a European Parliament debate on Wednesday that "nostalgia" for traditional vehicles risked stifling innovation.
"I feel like I'm in the boardroom of Nokia when the iPhone was just released," he said.
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