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FDP blocks EU agreement on phasing out combustion engines in trucks

(dpa) The FDP is once again opposing regulations following the Supply Chain Act and CO2 limits for passenger cars: This time, they are blocking the negotiated regulation to reduce CO₂ emissions from commercial vehicles. Even the VDA is urging for a quick agreement to ensure planning security.

The emissions from trucks need to be drastically reduced, but the FDP is stalling an already negotiated EU directive. | Photo: ACEA
The emissions from trucks need to be drastically reduced, but the FDP is stalling an already negotiated EU directive. | Photo: ACEA
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Johannes Reichel

(dpa) - Within the German government, there is a dispute over new CO₂ emission standards for buses and trucks – now a vote in Brussels has been postponed. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit confirmed in Berlin on Wednesday that negotiations over the German position on the plans are still ongoing. Instead of being on the agenda on Wednesday, as originally planned, the topic is now scheduled for Friday on the agenda of the responsible EU committee. Whether the necessary votes for the project will materialize without Germany remains uncertain.

Initially, it was firmly assumed in Brussels that the German governing coalition of SPD, Greens, and FDP would agree to the plans for the new CO₂ emission standards. According to information from the German Press Agency, however, the FDP surprisingly vetoed the move and wants to prevent a German yes to the project. The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the news portal "Euraktiv" were the first to report on this on Tuesday.

Transport Ministry is stubborn again

Government sources said the result of the so-called trilogue does not meet the Federal Ministry of Transport’s expectations for technological neutrality. The decision by the European Commission to postpone the regulation of synthetic fuels for cars, which was actually promised by the Commission for last year, has also caused irritation. The Commission has not adhered to its commitments. Furthermore, it was said that other countries such as Italy, the Czech Republic, and Sweden have also signaled their unwillingness to agree to the new fleet limits. Therefore, the vote had to be postponed.

Agreement already reached in January

Negotiators from the EU states had actually agreed on January 18 that the new mandates for so-called fleet limits should come into effect. These limits regulate how much climate-damaging CO₂ the vehicles may emit in the future. The CO₂ emissions of tour buses and trucks are to be reduced by 90 percent by 2040 compared to 2019. In the meantime, however, the FDP held a European party congress, at which participants strictly opposed fleet limits. Specifically, it was stated there: "We will abolish the fleet limits without replacement."

Déjà vu: As with the car combustion engine phase-out

In Brussels, the FDP's stance recalls the dispute over the combustion engine phase-out. The EU had actually agreed last year on an extensive ban on new cars with combustion engines. In the federal government, however, it was particularly the FDP that insisted on exempting cars powered exclusively with e-fuels from the so-called combustion engine phase-out.

This led to vehement criticism of the federal government, and Berlin's reliability in European negotiations was called into question. The former Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins spoke at an EU summit of a "very, very difficult signal for the future". The entire architecture of decision-making would fall apart if everyone did the same.
 

VDA urges swift agreement and reliability

The German Association of the Automotive Industry stated that the German automotive industry fundamentally welcomes the fact that the EU Council and the EU Parliament have reached an agreement on CO₂ fleet regulation for heavy commercial vehicles. "It sets a clear timetable to advance the implementation of emission-free solutions in the European market. Reliability is of great importance to the companies in the German automotive industry. All political stakeholders should come to a common resolution as soon as possible so that the CO₂ fleet regulation for heavy commercial vehicles can be concluded within this legislative period and the companies can quickly gain planning security."

The agreement reached by the EU Council and Parliament on CO₂ fleet regulation for heavy commercial vehicles sets ambitious targets, according to the industry association.

"It is all the more important that the set goals and the necessary framework conditions are considered together. To actually achieve the ambitious goals, a sufficiently dense network of electric charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure with accompanying connections to power and hydrogen grids for heavy commercial vehicles across Europe is a crucial prerequisite. However, this is currently not even remotely available."

EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola said, without explicitly mentioning Germany, that no agreement could be reversed. It is about trust between co-legislators and the credibility of the process.

German abstentions are particularly painful

It is therefore not the first time that a German position remains uncertain until the last moment. An EU diplomat told the German Press Agency that other EU states had learned to deal with this over the past months. However, it is "particularly painful" that German abstentions make it easier for other countries to find sufficient majorities to block decisions. As in the Bundesrat, abstentions in votes among EU states act like opposing votes.

Translated automatically from German.
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