In the debate about the so-called combustion engine ban for new cars from 2035, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) announced after the auto summit in the Chancellery that he would advocate for more flexibility at the EU level. “There must be no hard cut in 2035,” Merz said on Thursday in Berlin. He wanted to “do everything to achieve this,” Merz said. However, an agreement with coalition partner SPD to represent this position in Brussels was still pending.
He wanted to encourage the automotive industry and suppliers in Germany “to continue researching and developing all conceivable drive technologies and to ensure that we achieve climate neutrality together in a variety of ways,” Merz said. This would create “the necessary competitiveness in the world” and the opportunity to preserve jobs in Germany.
At the same time, he emphasized that electromobility was “the main road.” “That doesn't mean that we are now going backwards, that we are going back to the old technologies, but rather that we want to move forward together with electromobility and other forms of climate-neutral drive systems,” said the chancellor. “We will be addressing these issues in two weeks' time at the European Council in Brussels,” he added.
Under current EU legislation, only new cars that do not emit CO2 will be allowed to be registered from 2035. As things stand at present, only electric cars can achieve this. Recently, however, in view of the difficult economic situation facing many car manufacturers, there have been growing calls for the requirements to be relaxed or postponed, with the Union in particular pushing for this.
After the auto summit, German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD) also signaled his willingness to accept more flexible requirements. “The situation in the automotive sector is dramatic, we are under a lot of pressure,” he said. At the meeting, it became clear that no one is questioning the consistent move toward electric mobility, nor the climate targets.
“And it has become clear that we need more flexibility,” Klingbeil added. That is why the federal government must now “come to decisions quickly.”
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