Dispute over combustion car ban threatens to overshadow EU summit

BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) – The first regular EU summit of the year threatens to be overshadowed by the dispute over Germany’s blockade of a planned ban on new cars with internal combustion engines. Until Wednesday evening, it did not look as if the conflict over climate protection rules would be resolved by the start of the meeting of heads of state and government on Thursday (11:30 a.m.) as originally planned. Therefore, the dispute is likely to play a role at least on the sidelines of the summit. For Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), it could become uncomfortable.

Several EU partners have already expressed their incomprehension and annoyance behind the scenes in recent days that the German government had prevented the final decision at the beginning of March. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU member states had actually agreed in October that only zero-emission new cars would be allowed to be registered in the EU from 2035.

However, the German government made additional demands at the beginning of March. The German Free Democratic Party (FDP) in particular is insisting that new cars with internal combustion engines that run on climate-neutral e-fuels should still be allowed to be registered after 2035. This refers to artificial fuels generated with green electricity. The German Federal Ministry of Transport and the EU Commission are working on a solution, but have not yet been able to reach agreement.

Europe Minister of State Anna Lührmann (Greens) had still said on Tuesday that she expected the talks to be completed by the summit. Transport Minister Volker Wissing, however, dampened hopes for a quick agreement. “We’re talking about regulation for 2035, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be allowed to take another look at things now,” the FDP politician told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper (Thursday).

Officially, on the first of the two summit days, completely different topics are on the agenda of the meeting of Chancellor Scholz and his colleagues: support for Ukraine, an exchange with UN Secretary General António Guterres, and consultations on the competitiveness of the European economy.

THE UKRAINE WAR – SUPPORT FOR AS LONG AS NECESSARY

For more than a year, Russia’s war against Ukraine has been one of the top issues at every EU summit. This top meeting will be no different. The heads of state and government want to discuss how to further expand military and economic support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj is to join the deliberations via video conference. A draft final declaration of the meeting states, “The European Union stands firmly and fully alongside Ukraine and will continue to provide strong political, economic, military, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its people – for as long as necessary.”

EUROPE’S ECONOMY IN GLOBAL COMPETITION

Geopolitical tensions, high energy prices, disrupted supply chains and a shortage of skilled workers have taken their toll on companies in Germany and Europe in recent years. Added to this is pressure from China and the USA, for example, which have recently launched major subsidy programs for their economies. Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission countered last week with two proposals:

First, approval procedures for strategically important industries such as renewable energies are to be accelerated. Secondly, the authority wants to set production targets for particularly important raw materials. These are primarily raw materials that Europe needs for the green transition – for example, for the construction of electric cars and wind turbines. Up to now, the EU has been dependent on other countries such as China for many important raw materials.

The German government also hopes that the EU summit will send a positive signal for the rapid conclusion of new free trade agreements. However, the project with the South American confederation Mercosur in particular remains highly controversial. Critics in countries such as France and Austria fear that European farmers could be forced into a merciless price war, while at the same time fuelling rainforest and environmental destruction in the Mercosur states of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay./wim/DP/zb