Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton told MEPs in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) on Monday 3 February that he would be tackling the thorny issue of the car industry, in order both to move on from Dieselgate once and for all and to support the sector's transition to zero-emission mobility.
"As everyone knows, the automotive sector is going through major changes, of which Dieselgate is highly symptomatic", commented the Commissioner, who hopes to get Europe out of this scandal "from above". "And I think we're on our way to that." Replying to Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA, France), he said that the plans announced by some Member States to ban the marketing of internal combustion cars by 2030 or even 2040 were "good initiatives". However, he added that he will also have to ensure the proper functioning and respect of the rules of the internal market.
The Commissioner detailed his action: first of all, he will seek to take advantage of the new prerogatives that will fall to the European Commission from 1 September in the field of motor vehicle market surveillance. As a reminder, the Commission will be able to evaluate national type-approval systems, check registered vehicles and impose administrative fines (see EUROPE 11921/2).
Euro 7. Subsequently, Mr Breton intends to present a new Euro 7 regulatory framework in 2021 to limit nitrogen oxide and fine particle emissions. He also stressed that he would "fight" on state aid, review the competition rules and bring out an important project of common European interest on hydrogen. In his view, hydrogen does provide a clean means of locomotion for large transporters. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)