At the EU ‘Competitiveness’ Council meeting on Thursday 22 May, the European industry ministers expressed their determination to rapidly implement the Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector (see EUROPE 13612/14) and their support for the European battery industry (see EUROPE 13534/2).
“Our success depends on speed”, argued the French minister, Marc Ferracci, who initiated the discussion. He highlighted four priorities: - adopt before the summer the amendment aimed at making CO2 requirements less rigid for manufacturers; - build, by the end of the year, a consensus on the greening of large corporate fleets; rapidly implement the European content requirements through the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act (see EUROPE 13623/30); - introduce, starting this year, a mechanism to support the production of battery cell factories using resources from the Innovation Fund.
Overall, the Czech, Slovenian, Slovakian, Italian, Romanian, Spanish and German ministers approved the French requests. Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, was optimistic about the rapid adoption of the amendment on CO2 emissions, given the consensus among the three institutions on the subject (see EUROPE 13636/13).
He also brought forward by one year the revision clause initially scheduled for 2026 to “have a knock-on effect and speed up these two elements of flexibility”.
The Italian minister, Valentino Valentini, mentioned the development of a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles and agreements with affinity countries for the supply of critical materials, as well as reskilling and upskilling tools to facilitate the professional retraining of workers in this sector. He also stressed the importance of having a clear reference to technological neutrality.
However, Ebba Busch, the Swedish minister, regretted that the action plan was not specific enough when it came to actions for heavy-duty vehicles.
With regard to European content, the Romanian representative, Mihaela Vasiu, said it was essential that its application be assessed on a case-by-case basis so as not to disrupt supply chains.
The Czech Minister, Martin Frélich, said he wants to come back on the 2035 target, which bans the sale of new combustion vehicles. He also opposed the compulsory purchase of zero-emission vehicles by private companies. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)