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Finance Minister Lindner with Chancellor Scholz: included if necessary
Photo: CHRISTIAN MANG / REUTERS
The traffic light coalition is negotiating a compromise on the planned EU-wide phase-out of the internal combustion engine from 2035. Representatives of the responsible ministries are currently working on a deal so that the federal government can approve the plan in Brussels, but at the same time the FDP can record a political success.
According to a plan by the EU Commission, the core of which has also been approved by the European Parliament, from 2035 onwards only cars that no longer emit CO₂ will be registered in the entire EU.
The so-called fleet limit value would then have to be zero.
The coalition agreement states in the preamble: "Step by step we are ending the fossil age, also by (...) leaving the technology of the internal combustion engine behind."
The coalition agreement also states the following about the EU plans: "According to the proposals of the European Commission, only CO2-neutral vehicles will be permitted in the transport sector in Europe in 2035 - this will have an effect in Germany correspondingly earlier.
Outside the existing system of fleet limit values, we are committed to ensuring that only vehicles that can be refueled with e-fuels can be newly registered.«
In the FDP-led ministries it is said that the Green Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke carelessly ignored the second sentence, which the FDP had insisted on, when she announced that the government would approve the EU plans.
decision on Monday
The green interpretation of the sentence, on the other hand, reads: Combustion engines fail for all vehicles for which fleet limits apply, i.e. cars.
Outside of this system there are tractors, trucks or fire engines, for example, and synthetic fuels are only suitable for them.
Liberal ministries, on the other hand, say that the two sentences cannot be separated.
Lindner therefore announced this week that he had decided not to agree to the proposal in the coalition.
He thinks a ban on the internal combustion engine is wrong.
Even after the coalition negotiations, there was no agreement on the meaning of this sentence.
Now the consequences are showing.
The Council of Environment Ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday.
Then Germany must have a clear stance.
Green compromise proposal
According to SPIEGEL information, a compromise proposal from a green ministry that is currently being negotiated is that, as planned, combustion engines will no longer be permitted after 2035.
For all cars with internal combustion engines that are then still registered and drive, a certain admixture quota of synthetic fuels could be examined.
The FDP has long been promoting so-called e-fuels, i.e. synthetic fuels produced with the help of electricity that are not obtained from fossil oil.
This is where the possible compromise comes in.
It would be painful for the Greens because e-fuels are comparatively inefficient, you need much more electricity for the same distance compared to an electric motor.
They are therefore convinced that there will not be large quantities of e-fuels and that they should be reserved for vehicles that cannot really be equipped with electric propulsion - such as airplanes or heavy transporters.
What is decisive for them, however, is that Germany adheres to the basic plan for zero emissions in newly registered vehicles
The FDP does not dispute that e-fuels can only be produced at great expense in the foreseeable future.
For the FDP, the scarcity of e-fuels is the reason why they are opposed to state restrictions.
According to the FDP, the market will regulate which technology the e-fuels are used for.
If the Greens in the coalition are not ready for a reasonable compromise, Germany must abstain from the EU.
If the FDP is then criticized as un-European, one can live with it, according to the Liberals.
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