Berlin The FDP calls on Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and the Greens to commit to the industrial location. “At the mobility summit in the Chancellery, the Free Democrats expect Economics Minister Habeck and the Green coalition partner to make a clear commitment to Germany as an automotive location with its hundreds of thousands of highly specialized jobs,” said Carina Konrad, deputy leader of the parliamentary group, to the Handelsblatt.
So far, the ministry’s interest in the industrial location has been “highly manageable,” she criticized. “Increasingly far-reaching regulatory ideas and an energy policy concept that is incomplete in many places are endangering the digital transformation of the mobility sector towards climate neutrality.”
This Tuesday will be the first car summit of the traffic light coalition. Shortly before Christmas, the Federal Chancellery had invited to the first meeting of a “strategy platform” to support the “transformation of the automotive and mobility industry”, as the cover letter says. The topics for the two-hour summit are “Climate and environmental protection in transport, smart cars and networked mobility, and the resilience of supply chains”. Each item should last 30 minutes, as indicated on the agenda.
Government parties argue about climate protection
In addition to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chancellery Minister Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD), the government is represented by FDP Ministers Christian Lindner (finance) and Volker Wissing (transport) and Greens Ministers Robert Habeck and Steffi Lemke (environment). Works councils, IG Metall and the head of the think tank Agora Verkehrswende also take part, as do the chairmen of the expert group “Transformation of the automotive industry” of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the expert advisory board on climate protection in mobility of the transport department.
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After introductory words by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), a heated debate on climate protection is expected. The invited CEOs Oliver Zipse from BMW, Ola Källenius from Mercedes-Benz and Oliver Blume from Volkswagen will explain how cars and heavy trucks can be driven in the future without emitting carbon dioxide and what the role of politics is to make in order to achieve the goal of achieve climate neutrality.
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The FDP and the Greens have been arguing about the question for months. For example, the FDP supports the attitude of the new VW boss, Blume. He continues to rely on the combustion engine and not exclusively on electromobility. Rather, the vehicles should also be allowed to be operated with synthetic fuels, so-called e-fuels.
There was a government crisis around e-fuels in the spring. The question was whether, from 2035, only new vehicles should be registered in Europe if they no longer emit carbon dioxide. This is tantamount to the end of the combustion engine – even with synthetic fuels. The FDP then pushed through at least one test order in Brussels to give e-fuels a chance.
“Political resistance to the further development of the combustion engine” stands in the way of the decarbonization of the transport sector, FDP Vice Konrad criticized the Greens. They should “finally give up their blockade against sustainable electricity-based fuels”.
Like VW boss Blume, the FDP argues that even after 2035 there will be millions of registered cars with internal combustion engines that run on petrol or diesel. Adding e-fuels helps to emit significantly less CO2.
However, this fuel is currently available in very small quantities and is many times more expensive than other fuels. The Federal Government is supporting the development and is funding projects with a good two billion euros in the coming years. A spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment pointed out that e-fuels may be used and that they will even have to be added to air traffic from 2026.
The FDP wants to make the emissions regulations less strict
There are also discussions about the planned new Euro 7 emission standard. The FDP calls for less strict regulation so that the car industry is not overly burdened with the transformation to climate-neutral mobility. “The environment and economics ministries must therefore also campaign for an implementable Euro 7 standard and keep an eye on the effects on value chains,” demanded Konrad. The Ministry of the Environment has already held technical discussions, but refers to a number of open questions that would be clarified with the EU Commission.
>> Also read here: Why the diesel engine is slowly dying out and being replaced by electric cars
The Greens are also coming under pressure from the SPD. Scholz had already sided with the FDP in the dispute over e-fuels in the spring. At the weekend, the federal executive board decided on a strategy paper at its closed conference and called for “a comeback of infrastructure policy”. This also includes speeding up planning and approval procedures.
The Greens only want to relax the environmental and nature conservation requirements for the infrastructure of renewable energies or the rail network, but not for the construction of roads or airports. But this is what the FDP is demanding – and is now getting support from the SPD. “We need both in Germany,” said SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken. According to the paper, the goal for rail and road must be that Germany has “the most modern and at the same time most sustainable transport infrastructure in Europe”.
FDP Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann welcomes this attitude. On Wednesday next week, a legislative package is to pass the cabinet that will speed up the planning and approval process. “In view of the current crisis, it is high time to unleash restrictive regulation,” said parliamentary group leader Konrad.
While environmental groups complain that they were not invited to the car summit, there was criticism from the opposition. The industry and the employees do not need an “alibi event”, but “planning security”, said the chairwoman of the SME Union of the CDU, Gitta Connemann, the Handelsblatt. “This also includes a mix of offers that also includes modern and efficient combustion engines. E-fuels must finally be treated as a real alternative.”
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