The fact that the chancellor is not calling his transport minister to order cannot be conveyed in Brussels.
(Photo: Reuters)
Suddenly the climate protection plan of the EU is in question. For a year and a half, Brussels has been fighting over emission rights, energy prices and redistributed billions. And so far the success has been enormous: If the EU implements what has been agreed so far, its CO2 emissions will fall by 55 percent or even a little more by 2030. That was the goal of the “Fit for 55” legislative package.
But progress has been in question since the German government blocked the Fleet Limits Act, which aims to phase out diesel and petrol engines in cars. It’s not so much about the CO2 saved with this single law. For the climate, it doesn’t make a big difference if a few more combustion engines are allowed in Europe after 2035.
But not only the almost legally binding law was repealed. The consensus that domestic political party squabbling should not hold up politics in Europe was also abandoned.
Other countries have accepted severe cuts in “Fit for 55” so as not to jeopardize the success of the overall project. A Europe-wide phase-out of coal is planned there as a result of emissions trading, which poses a huge challenge for many EU countries. The industry is given strict efficiency requirements, which means that more companies in Eastern Europe are likely to be threatened than in Germany. The northern European countries will have to accept that they can no longer freely dispose of their forests and moors.
Brussels fears that if the other governments in the EU follow Berlin’s example, one law after the other will have to be renegotiated. The package threatens to be tattered.
>> Read here: Lack of coordination – the chaos in the federal government is causing trouble in Brussels
Then the radiance of “Fit for 55”, which is designed to have an impact beyond Europe, will suffer. The laws are intended to inspire legislators in other states to take effective climate action. At the same time, the EU is putting pressure on its trading partners to impose taxes on CO2 emissions.
Christoph Herwartz, correspondent in the Handelsblatt office in Brussels, analyzes trends and conflicts, regulatory projects and strategic concepts from the inner workings of the EU. Because anyone interested in business needs to know what’s going on in Brussels. You can reach him at: [email protected]
Europe cannot save the climate alone. But without Europe, the others will certainly not make it. Someone has to show how CO2-neutral business works. And there is no comparable economic area in sight that could take on this role if the EU were to fail.
Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is warning that the speed and scale of climate action is not enough.
Without a plan for e-fuels
Instead of contributing to solutions, the FDP keeps the discussion about the combustion engine warm. It is unclear whether she likes being perceived again and again as the savior of the combustion engine, or whether she made a technical mistake that she is now unable to correct. The fact is that the formulations with which the liberals first wanted to keep the internal combustion engine in the coalition agreement and then in EU law are not suitable for this.
>> Read here: That’s what the e-fuel dispute is about – the most important questions and answers
This can also be seen in the letter that Transport Minister Volker Wissing sent to the responsible Commission official in Brussels last week. There, a legal act is required from the Commission, which it is not allowed to submit without Parliament and the Member States creating a basis for it beforehand.
And it is still not clear how Wissing imagines a car that can run on e-fuels but not on petrol or diesel.
MPs, representatives of other EU states and Commission officials are annoyed and increasingly desperate at the lack of seriousness with which the German government is pursuing European and climate policy. Brussels cannot explain why the Chancellor is not intervening and calling the Minister of Transport to order. The issue should be better clarified by the EU summit on Thursday, they say.
More: Transport Minister Wissing’s suggestion: how the combustion engine dispute could be resolved