EU backs fossil fuel car ban, as Berlin lifts veto
The 27 EU member states yesterday approved a deal between Brussels and Germany that lifted Berlin's block on a planned phase-out of sales of new fossil fuel cars by 2035.
A spokesman for Sweden, which holds the EU presidency, said ambassadors backed the agreement. Energy ministers are expected to give the final green light today during a meeting in Brussels.
Germany, one of the world's biggest car manufacturers, had irked its EU partners by blocking a deal that had already been approved under the bloc's standard legislative process.
The ban on internal combustion engines is key to the EU's ambitious push to become a "climate neutral" economy by 2050.
Germany blocked the deal at the 11th hour, calling for an exemption for cars that run on synthetic fuels.
The fuels for which Germany wanted an exemption are still under development and should be produced using low-carbon electricity, but environmentalists oppose them.
Comments