Analysis
EU bows to automakers: Fuel-burning engines are back
Brussels has now largely nullified its own climate objectives with derogations and concessions, moving ever further away from the targets fixed by the Paris Agreements.
Once upon a time, there was an EU regulation that mandated the end of the manufacture of internal combustion engine vehicles from 2035.
It was the cornerstone of the Green Deal, but the ecological transition of the automotive sector has been the first to give way under pressure from the manufacturers’ lobby – with the decisive backing of the European People’s Party (EPP), the right-wingers and numerous national governments, foremost among them Italy and Germany, along with several Eastern European countries. On the opposite side, defending the phase-out of the traditional engines by 2035, were Spain, France and several Nordic countries.
The stop to the production of internal combustion engines to open the way for electric vehicles was indeed a reality – but only at a particular point in the past, when Ursula von der Leyen was pushing hard for the Green Deal. On Tuesday, however, the EU Commission – meeting in Strasbourg where the European Parliament plenary is underway – presented the “Automotive Package,” which represents a decisive step backwards for the future of vehicles produced and marketed in the EU, from both an industrial and energy perspective. With the revision of the rules, there is no more phase-out of polluting gasoline and diesel engines within 10 years, because the cut in CO2 emissions is changed from 100% to 90%. Even more, the European executive will allow this 10% lower threshold to be met through both the use of steel classified as produced with reduced carbon emissions and the use of alternative fuels: e-fuels and biofuels, wanted respectively by Berlin and Rome for the specific purpose of continuing to produce internal combustion engines.
The supporters of this U-turn are saying this is a way to protect the industrial supply chain and avoid the costs of the ecological and energy transition while holding off Chinese competition. For the critics – the left and environmentalists – the Commission’s choice will leave the automotive sector in Europe lagging behind China, which is by now on a full-speed course towards electrification as a global leader.
Furthermore, it might seem like a small thing on the increasingly bumpy road to decarbonization, but the incentive proposed by Brussels via simplification and bonuses for small electric utility vehicles with a relatively low price (“between €15,000 and €20,000,” specifies Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné) also comes with telling provisions: through what the Commission calls “flexibilities,” the door is kept open also for plug-in vehicles and partial hybrids, where the classic internal combustion engine remains central. By keeping alive the production and sale of all types of engines (i.e. not just electric), the EU is supposed to reach “technological neutrality.”
This “neutrality” has been invoked not only by the Commissioners during the presentation of the automotive plan, but above all by Manfred Weber, the powerful EPP leader and primary inspiration – on behalf of the interests of the German automotive industry – for von der Leyen’s U-turn.
The original reversal of the Green Deal started precisely with automobiles, was likewise attributable to Weber and dates back to 2023. At the same time as the automotive plan was being presented, on Tuesday, the Strasbourg chamber gave the definitive green light to the revision of the rules on due diligence (corporate responsibility) with 428 votes in favor, 218 against and 17 abstentions. Now only the last formal passage in the EU Council is needed before the great watering-down of norms on the environmental and social sustainability of multinationals officially becomes European law. “A deregulation maneuver has been carried out that puts the rights of workers, the health of citizens and the climate future of everyone at risk,” accused Greens MEP Cristina Guarda.
The two directives, specifically dedicated to reporting and corporate due diligence, are part of the first of many “Omnibus packages” presented this year by the Commission. Theoretically, the intent is to simplify bureaucracy and incentivize competitiveness. In reality, the Omnibus packages are part of the broad strategy of dismantling rules that the EU has embarked on, in which the first victims are the norms on ecological transition – highly disliked by the EPP and the right. Legislation for the protection of the ecosystem and fighting climate change had always seen the EU at the forefront of the world, but Brussels has now largely nullified its own climate objectives with derogations and concessions, moving ever further away from the targets fixed by the Paris Agreements.
Due to the many steps backward taken by the Commission on the Green Deal, the “Ursula 2” majority has been at loggerheads for some time. Now, however, the U-turn on automobiles makes a split between the Popular Party and the progressives even more plausible. A warning to the EPP, which is claiming the automotive step back as its own victory, came from the president of the S&D group, Iratxe García Pérez, who asked whether continuing to support internal combustion engines was really the future and hinted that Weber wouldn’t be able to count on their support. The environmentalist world has also rejected the Commission’s plan: Legambiente describes it as a “short-sighted, losing choice” and one that is also “damaging to the future competitiveness of the automotive sector.”
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/lue-cede-ai-costruttori-dauto-avanti-con-il-motore-termico on 2025-12-17