At its plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday 8 May, the European Parliament adopted a targeted amendment to the CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans, with 458 votes in favour, 101 against and 14 abstentions. The text had been the subject of an urgency procedure two days earlier (see EUROPE 13634/11)
The amendment, proposed by the European Commission at the beginning of April as part of the Industrial Action Plan for the automotive sector (see EUROPE 13612/14), was adopted without modification. It allows manufacturers to comply with their obligations for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027 by averaging their performance over the three-year period, rather than over each year. The proposal was unanimously rejected by The Left and Greens/EFA groups. The twenty or so amendments tabled by the PfE and ECR groups were all rejected.
“As things stand, the vote is nowhere near enough to reverse the crisis in the sector”, said Carlo Fidanza MEP (ECR, Italian). “We want to see a comprehensive unpicking of this burdensome legislative package, which punishes the people least able to afford it”, he added. His group says it will continue to press for a review of the ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035.
The day before, the Member States’ representatives to the EU (Coreper) also approved the Commission’s proposal without amendment (see EUROPE 13635/18). The Council of the EU should soon adopt the text definitively.
Read the text: https://aeur.eu/f/gpq (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)