The announcement of the EU Commission
“We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars. We will now work to adopt the CO2 emission reduction rules within the passenger car regulation as soon as possible: the European Commission will swiftly follow up on the necessary legal measures”: was the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Frans Timmermansto announce on his Twitter profile the reaching of an agreement with the German government.
We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of efuels in cars.
We will work now on getting the CO2-standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow-up swiftly with the necessary legal steps to implement recital 11.
— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) March 25, 2023
How does the provision change?
In recent days several representatives of the government majority in Germany had said optimistic in this regard: it was expected that a definitive agreement could be found next Tuesday, the date on which the European leaders would meet in Brussels to discuss energy measures, in reality these times have been anticipate so much so that Timmermans’ announcement has arrived just in these hours.
Thanks to this agreement, it will most likely be included in the new regulation an exemption for e-fuels, which can therefore be used on new cars that will be sold in Europe after 2035. Great satisfaction among the benches of the German government, among the few together with the Italian one (which asked for a further exemption for biofuels, currently denied) to having opposed the initial draft of the provision, which effectively forced producers and customers to invest and purchase only electric cars starting from the middle of the next decade. Less enthusiastic instead the environmental activists of Greenpeace, who speak of a “compromise that undermines climate protection in transport and damages Europe”.
The deciding vote on Tuesday
However, the agreement between Europe and Germany will not lead to an immediate change to the text of the regulation agreed last year between representatives of member states and the European Parliament, Autonews reported, quoting an EU official: following the approval of the amendment by the ministers, whose vote is scheduled for Tuesday, the Commission will provide more details on what steps will be followed to implement the provision on e-fuels.
#Efuel #agreement #reached #Germany #FormulaPassion