Green light – The EU Parliament decides to phase out internal combustion engines from 2035

After the agreement, the final approval of the negotiating result was still missing. The Member States had already given the green light in November and now Parliament has followed suit. The agreement stipulates that only zero-emission cars and vans will be newly registered. A point of contention in the negotiations was whether there should be an exception for cars that run on synthetic fuel.

Backdoor for eFuels
These so-called eFuels are usually produced from water and CO2 using electricity. According to the October agreement, the European Commission should investigate whether vehicles with such a combustion engine can still be registered in the future. At the insistence of the FDP, the German government had campaigned at the EU level to ensure that eFuels were not banned from the outset.

Austrian MEPs are divided
The Austrian MEPs were already divided before the vote. In a press conference on the sidelines of the plenary week in Strasbourg, the ÖVP and FPÖ warned of economic and social consequences, while the SPÖ, Greens and NEOS welcomed the move.

ÖVP: “EU is abolishing its leading technology”
“If we google in ten years when the EU has given up on one of its key technologies, 14 February 2023 will come out,” said EU-ÖVP MP Barbara Thaler, who announced her delegation’s no before the vote. “That does not mean that we are against climate protection,” emphasizes Thaler, but they would also include competitiveness and the social component. Thaler also warned that the EU would “autonomously abolish its own lead industry” and make itself dependent on raw materials from China.

SPÖ is satisfied
On the other hand, the head of the SPÖ delegation to the EU Parliament, Andreas Schieder, was pleased with the measure. It is also a politically exciting question: “We have the impression that part of the House, especially around the European People’s Party, is moving away from the ‘Green Deal’,” Schieder stressed.

FPÖ: “China is rubbing its hands”
For the liberal EU mandate holder Roman Haider, this is a “measure that is simply fading away”. In his view, this would “destroy” industry and prosperity in Europe. “China, India, Russia and the US are rubbing their hands together,” Haider said. More than 200 coal-fired power plants are now being built in China alone. Moreover, the measures under the “Green Deal” would make Europe even more dependent on the rest of the world and end up with nothing. “Global CO2 emissions continue to rise,” says Haider.

Green: “Important step”
“The 100 percent end to new combustion engine registrations by 2035 is an important step in steering private transport towards zero- and low-emission vehicles,” said Green MEP Thomas Waitz, according to the broadcast. “A step that even the car industry welcomes.” He criticized the conservatives who “cling to fossil polluters to the end”.

NEOS: “No more emissions after a certain day”
NEOS MEP Claudia Gamon stressed that the EU is “leading the world with a very positive example”. New registrations for combustion engine cars would “decrease sharply” and registrations for e-cars would “markably increase”, according to the liberal EU mandate. This means that consumers “accept” it. It’s also not that “the burner is banned,” Gamon explained, but that from “a certain day there should be no more emissions – with the exhaust, so to speak. We’ll see what else is on the market before then.” market is coming.”