There are alternatives to electric cars and e-fuels make a thermal car as "clean" as an electric one. I am convinced of it Italy and Germany who have united on this ground by opposing the ban on combustion engines in 2035. And this morning the EU presidency responds by postponing the meeting on the agenda today on the subject to Friday.
The declarations of Italy and Germany
Tuesday 7 March in Brussels, at the meeting of the ambassadors of the EU countries (Coreper I), Italy will express a position contrary to the proposal for a European Regulation which provides for a ban on the production and sale of cars and vans with internal combustion engines by 2035. This was stated by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security in a press release. On the same line, the German Transport Minister Volker Wisssing who threatened the veto in Brussels if the Commission does not make a regulation on e-fuels. The use of synthetic fuels for cars must be possible, said the liberal representative of Olaf's cabinet Scholz to Bild. «In light of the enormous fleet of already existing vehicles that we have only in Germany, for the FDP there can only be a compromise on the limits of the car fleet, if the use of e-fuels is also possible. At the moment we are not aware of any proposals, but only of utter rejection by Commissioner Frans Timmermans », he added.
The question is not yet closed: the next decisive days
Italy and Germany therefore reopen a dossier that the Commission thought it had already closed. “Environmental targets must be achieved through an economically sustainable and socially equitable transition”, continues the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
In addition to Germany and Italy there are Bulgaria and Poland respectively abstained and opposed to Coreper which launched the agreement last November. Put together, the four countries would constitute a decisive minority bloc to stop the process.
The postponement of the EU presidency from today to Friday
The green light from Coreper II to stop the sale of endothermic engines from 2035, which was on the agenda today, was moved to Friday after the declarations of Italy and Germany. He decided it this morning thereEU presidency (Sweden): Coreper, which brings together the representatives of the states, will not pronounce itself this morning on the regulation on CO2 emissions from new diesel and petrol cars and vans, which establishes the stop of placing on the market from 2035 but at the meeting on Friday 3rd March. The item on the agenda was postponed after the Italian government's decision to vote against it, said a press release from the presidency. of March 7.
For the Italian government, electricity cannot be the only way
For Italy there are other ways than electric to achieve zero emissions. “The success of electric cars will depend a lot on how affordable they become at competitive prices,” noted the ministry led by Gilbert Pichetto. Italy's position reflects that expressed in a compact manner by Fi, Lega and Fdi at the February Plenary at the EP.
France and 10 other countries are pushing for nuclear power
In Stockholm, meanwhile, the issue of the nuclear. In a written statement, at the initiative of the France, eleven member countries (from Poland to Hungary to the Netherlands) have asked the EU "to guarantee collaboration in supplies and explore joint training programs and industrial projects" on thenuclear energy. The document was drawn up at the end of a meeting in which Italy was initially among the participants. Rome, however, did not sit down at the table in the end. "Italy is always welcome but it is up to the government to decide", explained French government sources while Salvini recalled the Italian "dramatic mistake" of no longer investing in the sector. But the executive has to deal with the 1987 abrogative referendum, which concerned first and second generation nuclear power. Only after adequate study will the government have clear margins within which to move.
Updated at 1030 on March 2023, XNUMX
