The European Parliament will vote this week on a number of crucial plans from the European Commission to achieve the European climate goals. However, some parts were tampered with, because they would hit citizens or the business community too hard, for example. Earlier in the day, one of the proposals was voted down after disagreements among proponents, after which the vote on other related plans was hastily postponed to avoid a domino effect.
The commission’s proposal to ban the sale of new fuel cars from 2035 escaped that fate. The Christian Democratic EPP, the largest group in parliament, wanted to allow another 10 percent with the support of the right wing of parliament. In particular, MEPs from Germany were sensitive to the concerns of manufacturers such as BMW. But the CDA squadron in the EPP, among others, did not agree.
VVD MEP Jan Huitema, who was responsible for the proposal, speaks of “great news.” Car manufacturers now know where they stand and can devote themselves to developing even better and cheaper electric cars, he thinks.
The committee’s climate man, Vice-President Frans Timmermans, made an urgent appeal on Tuesday to the MEPs not to water down the plans. The car industry itself is almost over, he said. And the climate proposals cannot suffer any weakening, because then the agreement to make the EU climate neutral by 2050 will be irrevocably lost.
Now that the European Parliament has taken a position, negotiations with the EU countries can begin. The proposals can only come into effect if they also agree.