The European Union has once again postponed the vote on the agreement so that from 2035 only vehicles that do not emit CO2 can be marketed in the EU, which was scheduled for March 7, after Germany has demanded more guarantees for motor engines that use clean synthetic fuels. The negotiation will return to the council “in due course”, as a spokesman for the Swedish rotating presidency of the institution said.
Last June, when the ministers of the Twenty-seven should establish their position before entering into negotiations with the European Parliament, the date of 2035 had generated a small political crisis in the coalition government in Berlin, where the sensitivities of environmentalists and liberals.
Finally Germany met that date zero polluting emissions. These are fuels produced with water and CO2, so they do not emit additional carbon dioxide and have no carbon footprint.
Most bet on electric or hydrogen vehicles
The Commission, which defines itself as “technologically neutral”, does not enter into the type of engine that vehicles should have, but the current development of technology suggests that the fleet will be dominated by electric or hydrogen vehicles, displacing the combustion engine.
Zero-emission synthetic fuels “until now do not seem very realistic because they seem prohibitive in terms of costs,” said then the vice-president of the European Commission for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans.
With this clause, the pact between the twenty-seven capitals went ahead and the Council of the EU reached an agreement with the European Parliament that was approved by the plenary session of the European Parliament on February 14 and should now receive the formal green light from the members. a procedure that rarely poses problems. But Germany wants Brussels to compromise more cleanly on the feasibility of synthetic fuel engines beyond 2035.
In addition to Germany, Italy has positioned itself against the text, despite the fact that in a previous vote a favor had been pronounced, questioning that electricity be prioritized to drive cars and not considering other alternatives that could, they say, achieve the same targets such as biofuels. The text, however, could in principle go ahead with Italy voting against – as well as Poland and Bulgaria, which are also opposed – if Germany voted in favor.
Deal up in the air until concerns are resolved
The spokeswoman for the European Commission, Dana Spinant, said that the Community Executive “is committed to carefully implementing” the evaluation agreed for 2026 and that it is in contact with the States to find out “the most recently expressed suspicions” on this point.
“We want to better understand these concerns, particularly the new ones, before deciding what is the best way to proceed,” Spinant said, adding that it would be “premature” to rule now on the options that will be put on the table to implement that commitment.
