On Monday 22 April, the European Court of Auditors warned of the difficulties the EU is experiencing in reducing vehicle fleet emissions to zero, in the light of the various reports it has published recently. By sharing a more overall view of the results it has achieved, it hopes to inform political decision-makers and help them to achieve this objective.
“The heralded ‘green revolution’ can surely only take place in the EU if there is a drastic fall in the number of polluting vehicles on our roads”, stressed Nikolaos Milionis, a member of the Court, at a press conference.
His colleague Annemie Turtelboom believes that the EU needs to find an answer to the two dilemmas it faces: reconciling the ‘Green Deal’ not only with industrial sovereignty, but also with affordability. “It must find a convincing answer if it wants to achieve its ambitions and make its policy a success”, she warned.
Reducing or even eliminating emissions from private cars is proving complicated. On the one hand, reducing carbon emissions from internal combustion engine cars has so far been a failure (see EUROPE 13335/16). On the other hand, alternative fuels do not appear to be viable on a large scale (see EUROPE 13314/8). Finally, the mass adoption of battery electric vehicles by the general public is likely to be costly, both for the industry and for European consumers (see EUROPE 13204/4).
“Our job is to raise awareness on the risks, not to make policy decisions”, said Mr Milionis. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)