The EU Parliament approved the new CO2 targets.
(Photo: dpa)
Strasbourg From 2035, no new cars with combustion engines will be registered in the EU. The EU Parliament approved the new CO2 specifications in Strasbourg on Tuesday, according to which only new cars may be sold in the EU from 2035 that do not emit any greenhouse gases during operation. Negotiators from Parliament and the EU countries had already agreed on the compromise in October.
The deputies now approved the agreement, which many see as the end of classic internal combustion engines in cars. The member states still have to agree, but this is considered a formality, just like Parliament’s approval.
The Social Democrats celebrated the agreement as a success for more climate-friendly road traffic. “The decision secures the path to switching to cars without combustion engines, which car manufacturers have been doing for a long time,” said the climate policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Tiemo Wölken. At the same time, the decision ensures that key competencies such as the production of battery cells are kept in the EU.
The CDU MEP Dennis Radtke criticized the decision: “Greens, Liberals and Left voted in the EU Parliament for the ban on combustion engines today, although they know that they are endangering around 1.4 million jobs in Europe. The European traffic light is undermining Germany as an automotive location and thus putting the Chinese competition in pole position.”
It should be possible to review the compromise again in 2026. There had also been a long-standing dispute in the federal government about the question of the combustion engine off. Mainly Greens and Liberals represented different positions. The green-led Federal Ministry for the Environment had spoken out in favor of a clear end to combustion engines. The compromise paper also includes a request to the EU Commission to check whether so-called e-fuels for cars could be an option in the future. In the federal government, the FDP in particular had pushed for this.
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