At the request of the ECR Group, the European Parliament debated, on Wednesday 8 October, the ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars in the EU after 2035. The Chamber was very divided.
Following the example of certain European ministers (see EUROPE 13719/4), the right of the hemicycle wants to reverse this measure adopted in 2023 (see EUROPE 13499/4). This debate comes as several Member States, notably Germany and Italy, wrote a joint letter to the European Commission the previous day calling for the 2035 target to be dropped and for technological neutrality and freedom to innovate to be accepted.
The poor health of the European automotive industry and China’s domination of the European electric car market are of great concern to some MEPs. In their view, this ban only harms the European economy.
“Banning combustion vehicles by 2035 is a misguided, suicidal policy, which offers China our entire market”, argued Carlo Fidanza (ECR, Italian). “The electricity sector is becoming the Trojan horse for the Chinese, who also want to conquer the hydrothermal market”.
Jens Gieseke (EPP, Germany) also called for technological neutrality. “The future will not be purely electric and it will not be purely fuel engines”, he said. “We need to encourage electric mobility, of course, build the infrastructure, improve the conditions, but at the same time we also need a realistic plan for decarbonisation.” He assured that his group was “ready to work at the centre”.
For Patryk Jaki (ECR, Polish), who initiated the debate, and Klára Dostálová (PfE, Czech), it’s all about the accessibility of electric vehicles. “This is a debate about whether Europe will be for everyone or just for the rich”, said the Polish MEP.
The European Commission and the left defended the ban. Mohammed Chahim (S&D, Dutch) claimed that many countries are also switching to electric power, such as Vietnam and Ethiopia. For him, this technological revolution is inevitable, which is why he called for investment in programmes to develop the electric car fleet.
Wopke Hoekstra, the European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, defended the Commission’s current actions, which are the result of strategic dialogue with the sector (see EUROPE 13708/2). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)