EU confirmation: 2035 combustion car ban to be re-evaluated in 2 years

European Commission President reiterates commitment to evaluate synthetic fuels in 2026

By: Riccardo Ciriaco

Feb 22, 2024 at 6:12am ET

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The dates to remember are 6-9 June. On these days, the citizens of the European Union will go to the polls to elect the new European Parliament: a crucial stage for the subsequent appointment of the EU Commission.

And it was precisely the president of the current European Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, who gave some previews of the policies that Brussels will adopt in the near future. Starting with the end of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, which is causing so much discussion.

'Review in 2026'

"The state of the art," recalls Von der Leyen when formalising her re-election to the presidency, "is that we have legislation that foresees that by 2035 we will have to have zero emissions and, at the Commission's proposal, there is a special role for synthetic fuels."

"It's very important," she gets straight to the point, "that in 2026 there is a review of all this, to guarantee opportunities for consumers and manufacturers."

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In this way, Von der Leyen reiterates the commitment she made in recent months to Germany, when Berlin (along with other EU member states) refused to give the green light to the proposal to zero CO2 for new cars by the middle of the next decade: a rule that, in fact, would have left space in dealerships only for electric cars.

The dossier therefore ran the risk of running aground in the Council of the European Union, the body called upon to give the final vote on the text. In the end, however, the compromise was reached: "yes" to the EU Commission's proposal, but only if the executive considered a step backwards in 2026, analysing the environmental progress made by new fuels (such as synthetic ones) and possibly allowing their use in new cars, in order to guarantee the survival of combustion engines. And now the president herself has reaffirmed that she will keep her promise if she is re-elected.