According to both governments, Germany and France have agreed to loosen the combustion-engine ban. From 2035 the EU rule provides only for new cars with no CO2 in operation. The agreement is a bilateral signal, not an EU decision. Details are so far known only in fragments.
The auto industry is Germany’s most important branch of industry.
Today’s new cars are not affected; in the long run it is about prices, jobs and climate targets.
Merz and Macron have agreed – but nothing has been decided yet.
Tagesschau, WEB.DE, other outlets
Berlin and Paris want to soften the combustion-engine ban
Merz and Macron agree on the sidelines of the EU summit: more room for petrol and diesel cars, plus an auto package with an eye on China – but the details and the approval of the other member states are still outstanding.
Germany and France have agreed to soften the combustion-engine ban. Both governments announced this on Friday, as Tagesschau reports; WEB.DE and other outlets also report an agreement between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Emmanuel Macron. In total, the news appeared in four outlets in our review, making it one of the most widely circulated reports of the day in Germany.
The background is the EU rule under which, from 2035, only new cars that emit no CO2 in operation are to be newly registered in the European Union. German carmakers in particular, but also parts of the French industry, have long pushed for more flexibility: demand for electric cars is growing more slowly than hoped, competition from China is fierce, and manufacturers have to invest billions in two drivetrain worlds at once. That the two largest economies in the EU are now taking a joint position gives the cause political weight.
How far the loosening goes is not conclusively settled according to the reports at hand. One headline speaks of “more combustion engines, less China” and cites new details of an auto pact between Merz and Macron; what exactly it contains is so far described by this one source only, so we are not reproducing any figures or years. All that is clear: it is an understanding between two governments, not a decision by the EU.
That requires the Commission, the European Parliament and a majority of the member states. Environmental groups and countries that bet early on electric mobility are likely to announce resistance; manufacturers, in turn, demand planning certainty and warn against back-and-forth on the rules. For employees and suppliers in Germany a great deal is at stake, for buyers at first very little: cars that can be bought today are not affected by the agreement. We are keeping an eye on the negotiations and will report back as soon as a text is available that several sources confirm.
By the numbers
Word of the day
Combustion-engine banClimate policyColloquial term for the EU requirement that from 2035 only new cars that emit no CO2 in operation may be newly registered.