German’s finance minister has revealed that the country will not follow the European Union’s plans to issue a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035.
The European Commission is mandating a ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars and vans by 2035 and for a time, it appeared that Germany would follow suit. In fact, the legislation is managed by the Greens in Germany who operate the environment ministry and in March, the three-party government had agreed to support the Commission’s draft proposal on the 2035 ban.
However, while speaking at a conference of Germany’s industrial lobby, the BDI, German finance minister Christian Linder said the proposal was “wrong” and that the German government “will not agree to this European legislation this week.”
Read More: EU Votes To Uphold 2035 Ban On Combustion Engines
“Germany will… not be able to agree to the fleet limits with the de facto ban on internal combustion engines,” Linder added.
Politico reports that Linder is a van of sports cars and has expressed support for the development of synthetic fuels.
Die anstehende #EU-Entscheidung zu Flottengrenzwerten beim Auto ist leider nicht technologieoffen. Synthetische Kraftstoffe sind aber eine klimaneutrale Option für den global noch lange eingesetzten Verbrennungsmotor. Diese müssen wir für unsere Arbeitsplätze erhalten. CL https://t.co/NkPRx9VSHq
— Christian Lindner (@c_lindner) June 21, 2022
The environment minister from the Greens, Steffi Lemke, rejected Linder’s statements on the matter, stating that the federal government should stick to its “previously agreed course” and continue to support the ban.
“In the transport sector we need planning security for the car industry and decisive steps that can reduce CO2 emissions,” Lemke said.
Taking to Twitter shortly after making his statements, Linder again threw his support behind synthetic fuels.
“Unfortunately, the pending EU decision on fleet limits for cars is not open to technology,” he wrote. “However, synthetic fuels are a climate-neutral option for the internal combustion engine, which has been around for a long time. We must preserve this for our jobs.”