European governments align with industry in the transition to the electric car.
Divided before the proposal of Brussels on the Euro 7 standard, the legislation that must set the emission limits of vehicles registered in the European Union until the year 2035, which the sector received as a declaration of war, the Ministers of Industry of the Twenty-seven supported yesterday the compromise text proposed by the Spanish presidency of the Council, which keeps intact the current limits for passenger cars, vans and trucks with respect to the current regulations and extends the deadlines for introduce other measures; for example, those affecting brakes and tires.
The agreement, which will now have to be negotiated with the European Parliament to reach the final legal text, sets “realistic levels” of emissions while “helping” the European industry to take “the definitive step towards clean cars in 2035” , assured the acting Spanish Minister of Industry, Héctor Gómez, the current president of the Competitiveness Council of the European Union, to justify the downward revision of the Commission’s proposals.
“Car and component manufacturers are immersed in the transformation to reach the EU’s climate goals and need to make additional investments”, recalled Gómez during his intervention in the final debate, in which he also evoked the added difficulties that crosses the sector due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Due to the weight of these factors in the discussions, the Spanish presidency of the Council sought “a middle ground” between, on the one hand, the need to improve air quality and protect human health and, on the other another, “to ensure that the European car industry continues to be competitive on the world stage”, he said.
France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, in line with the position of the European car industry, which rejects the changes outright, had formed a minority blocking enough to reject the original proposal to revise the standard Euro 6 (commercial vehicles) and Euro VI (trucks). Germany, for its part, maintained a unique position: the Spanish proposal seemed unambitious to it, but at the same time it insisted that to reach zero emissions one must count on synthetic fuels and asked that it be taken into account. The industry, in turn, has made clear its opposition to a rule that, in its opinion, will only make the transition to the electric car more expensive, since it would force them to invest in technologies that would be born with an expiry date.
The Spanish presidency of the Council set out to reach an agreement during this semester and yesterday obtained enough support to push forward a common position that introduces, it says, “pragmatic” changes with respect to the original proposal. Although he presented the ministers with a more ambitious first text, given the urgency to move forward and negotiate with the Eurochamber, Spain chose to soften some points.
Thus, the agreed text keeps the CO2 and nitrogen dioxide limits for private cars and vans unchanged with respect to the rules already in force and lowers the requirements for trucks. In addition, it accepts that the cars can travel 2,500 kilometers and exceed the emission limits without the engine blocking. It also gives more time for the entry into force of the new limits for the reduction of particles from tires (four years in the case of new passenger car models). The new regulation was supposed to come into force in 2025, but governments want to postpone it until 2027 for light vehicles and until 2029 for heavy vehicles.
“The Spanish presidency has been sensitive to the different demands and requests of the member states, and we believe that with this proposal we have achieved broad support and a balance between the investment costs of the manufacturers and we have improved the environmental benefits”, defended Gómez . While for the oenagé specialized in mobility Transport
Although “it is a step in the right direction”, one should not “lower one’s guard” in view of the fact that the final agreement takes into account its double objective: to maintain the competitiveness of the sector and, at the same time, to produce affordable vehicles for consumers, claims the European employers’ association. Indeed, several countries that supported the proposal regretted that it could not go further and wished that the negotiations with MEPs would allow stricter measures to be introduced. “As many have said during the debate, we consider this a first step” and “the objective of going further is there”, assured the Secretary of State for the EU, Pascual Navarro.
The European Commissioner for Industry, Thierry Breton, assured that the climate goals of the European Union, including the plan to reach zero emission vehicles by 2035, “have not changed”, but conceded that “it is not something that can be done by decree”. “Now we enter the operational phase” and “my role is to make sure that everything is done in the best possible way, without questioning the objective, but ensuring that everyone participates in the transition”.
