Merz welcomes the planned change of course when it comes to phasing out combustion engines

“We will only be able to do something for climate protection if we have a competitive industry. And that is why I very much welcome the fact that the Commission is now setting out to make a decision next week about the largest industrial sector that we have, at least in Germany, namely the automotive industry and its future.”

Merz sees the industry in an extremely difficult situation

The commission will have the support of the federal government to quickly embark on this path, Merz continued. “Because we don’t have much time left to waste.” Large parts of the automotive industry in Europe, including Germany, and the supplier industry are in an extremely difficult economic situation. “That’s why we have to correct the framework conditions in Europe as quickly as possible so that this industry has a future in Europe.”

The EU Commission wants to propose a reversal of the so-called combustion engine ban. According to the current planning status, the authority wants to recommend that new cars with combustion engine technology be registered even after 2035, as commission circles confirmed to the German Press Agency.

Representatives of the EU states and the European Parliament actually agreed in 2022 that new cars in the EU would no longer be allowed to emit climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) during operation from 2035.

Merz: E-mobility remains the “main street”

Merz had repeatedly vehemently advocated changes to the planned ban. After the federal government agreed on a common position, he asked the EU Commission in a letter at the end of November to correct the regulation on the end of combustion engines.

Merz said in Heidelberg that electromobility would be “the main street”. “But there will be other forms of propulsion technologies.” There would still be millions of combustion engines on the world’s roads in 2035, 2040 and 2050. These combustion engines would also have to be CO2-neutral. “We are sticking to the goal, but we are not unilaterally determining the path through politics.”

The chairman of the EPP group in the EU Parliament, Manfred Weber, said he was pleased that the EU Commission would put a clear proposal on the table next Tuesday to abolish the ban on combustion engines. Merz and Weber made the comments after a board meeting of the EPP Group in the European Parliament.