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Christian Lindner: “It is our goal that new cars with combustion engines will still be registered in Germany after 2035”
Photo: Thomas Koehler / photothek / IMAGO
The EU wants to ban internal combustion engines from 2035.
But shortly before the decisive vote next week, the FDP opposes the plans.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner has now confirmed the FDP's no to a complete ban.
"It is our goal that new cars with combustion engines will still be registered in Germany after 2035," said Lindner of the Funke media group.
"However, these vehicles then have to run on climate-friendly eco-fuel."
The European Parliament approved the ban in February.
According to this, car manufacturers should reduce the CO2 emissions of new cars sold by 100 percent by 2035 - this means a ban on the production and sale of petrol and diesel engines.
However, the EU countries still have to formally approve this.
That could now fail, also due to the resistance of the FDP.
Lindner's party colleague, Transport Minister Volker Wissing, had previously threatened to veto the EU plans.
He demands that combustion engines that can be operated with so-called e-fuels be exempted from the ban.
E-fuels are produced using electricity.
If this comes from renewable sources, the vehicle can theoretically be operated in a climate-neutral manner.
However, the technology is considered expensive and inefficient.
Lindner argues that newly registered combustion vehicles would remain an exception after 2035.
However, this technology will continue to play a major role worldwide, so the technological know-how must be retained in an export country like Germany.
Hofreiter demands power from the Chancellor
"Unfortunately, the EU Commission has not taken any steps to seriously examine exceptions for combustion engines that only run on eco-fuel in its ban plans," said Lindner.
"It is also unlikely that the Commission will do in the next few days what it has not done for months."
The FDP had stipulated such a test so that it would accept the new emissions regulations.
With his words, he increased the pressure on Brussels and at the same time indicated that he now considers it likely that the deal will not come about in the next few days.
Should Germany reject the ban, the necessary majority for the project could tip over.
Italy also wants to vote against phasing out combustion engines (Read more about this here.)
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens), on the other hand, is urging Germany to agree.
Your party colleague Anton Hofreiter demands a word of power from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) against Wissing.
"I also expect the Chancellery to do everything in its power to ensure that Germany does not block Brussels in the interests of jobs and climate protection," said the chairman of the Bundestag's Europe Committee to the "Tagesspiegel".
koe/dpa/AFP
