Germany rejects ban on combustion engines in EU

GERMANY has hit back at EU plans to effectively ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines from 2035, just days after announcing it would reopen mothballed coal plants.

Christian Lindner, Berlin’s finance minister, said there would continue to be niches for combustion engines so phasing them out was “the wrong decision”, as overseas manufacturers will be able to fill the gap.

Speaking at an event hosted by Germany’s BDI industry association yesterday, he added: “Germany is not going to agree to a ban on combustion engines.”

It comes days after Berlin announced plans to reopen mothballed coal power plants to tackle rocketing gas prices, in a sign that the country is distancing itself from the bloc’s strategy for climate change amid the energy crisis.

The European Commission has proposed a 100pc reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars by 2035, meaning it will not be possible to sell new petrol and diesel vehicles.

It is part of a wider target of halving total emissions by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.

European lawmakers backed the proposals earlier this month, before negotiations with EU countries on the final law take place.

A spokesman for the Green environment minister Steffi Lemke told Germany’s DPA news agency that Berlin “fully supports the proposal by the Commission and the European Parliament to allow new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles only with zeroemission powertrains from 2035”.

Lobbyists argue the move risks leading to hundreds of thousands of job cuts in the automotive sector, which is Germany’s largest industry.

Mr Lindner, from the pro-business Free Democrats party that shares power with the Social Democrats and Greens, added that Germany would still be a leading market for electric vehicles.