The perseverance of the Austrian Presidency and the ambition of Parliament have paid off. Negotiators from Parliament and the Council of the EU, assisted by the Commission, reached a provisional agreement on the evening of Monday 17 December, after a day of talks (11am - 9pm) on the November 2017 proposal for a Regulation setting performance standards for the European fleet of new passenger cars and vans to reduce CO2 emissions after 2021.
The level of ambition resulting from this fifth trilogue is lower than Parliament wanted, but significantly higher than the Commission's proposal with regard to the objective of reducing CO2 emissions. While the Council wanted 35% and Parliament 40%, the agreement splits the difference: it will be 37.5% for cars and 31% for vans (the Commission proposed 30%). After COP 24, there is no loss of face.
"As Parliament, we strongly fought to safeguard the environment integrity of the proposal and bring real health, consumer and innovation benefits. This is despite the fierce opposition of the automotive industry and some Member States," said the Parliament’s chief negotiator Miriam Dalli (S&D, Malta).
Under the agreement, manufacturers whose fleets do not comply with the emission limits would have to pay a penalty and it would be up to the Commission to review, by 2023, the possibility of allocating this money to a fund for a just transition to 'zero emission' mobility and to support the training of workers to be retrained in the automotive sector. The text also requires the Commission to monitor fuel consumption data and to report annually on how the gap between laboratory emission tests and CO2 emission levels under real driving conditions can be bridged.
The file was supposed to be forwarded to the Romanian Presidency after the failure of the trilogue negotiations on 11 December (see EUROPE 12157). But this did not take into account the Austrian Minister Elisabeth Köstinger’s perseverance. "We thought [the matter would be postponed], but the minister decided that she wanted to have another trilogue. We had to wait for the [European Parliament] confirmation for a while," a European source said on Tuesday. In fact, Parliament has stuck doggedly to its position for a very long time, because of climate protection. The Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, intervened to urge the Parliament to lower its ambition, otherwise there would be no agreement.
Agreement to be confirmed. The text of this agreement has yet to be presented to the national ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) for confirmation. "It is not certain that confirmation will be obtained," said the source. For this reason, the Council of the EU has not communicated on this political agreement. The Parliament’s Environment Committee will make a decision in January.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has once again expressed its "serious concerns", calling the objectives "politically motivated, without taking technological and socio-economic realities into account” and "totally unrealistic". Eric Jonnaert, Secretary General of the organisation, points out in particular the lack of affordable electric vehicles and the lack of a sufficiently dense network of recharging infrastructure, which are "obstacles putting the brakes on widespread consumer acceptance". (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)