THE European Commission and the Germany announced today that they have reached an agreement to unblock a text on a plan for car CO2 emissions, easing the ban on combustion engines after 2035.

Berlin surprised European partners in early March by blocking a last-minute regulation that would have zeroed out CO2 emissions from new cars by forcing de facto 100% electric motors from the middle of the next decade.

The text was the subject of an agreement between the member states and their European Parliament negotiators, with the green light of Germany, and was approved in mid-February by the plenary session of the European Parliament.

To justify the U-turn, which is extremely rare at this stage of the process, Germany asked the Commission to present a proposal that would pave the way for cars powered by synthetic fuels.

This technology, which is still in the development stage, consists of producing fuel from CO2 emitted by industrial activities. The technology is supported by German and Italian car manufacturers and allows the use of thermal engines to be extended beyond 2035.

The European Commission has been negotiating ways out of the crisis in recent weeks with Germany, which has called for a tougher commitment on synthetic fuels, which were mentioned in the original text, but in a way that was not considered binding.

“We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of synthetic fuels in cars,” European Environment Commissioner Frans Timmermans announced on Twitter today.

“Going forward, we will work towards adopting the regulatory framework on car CO2 rules as soon as possible,” he added.

Questionable technology

“Cars equipped with a combustion engine will be able to enter the market after 2035 if they use CO2-neutral fuels,” German Transport Minister Volker Vissing said on Twitter.

Synthetic fuel technology is contested by environmental non-governmental organizations who consider it costly, energy-intensive and polluting.

Many car experts doubt that it will be able to impose itself on the market against electric cars, whose prices will decrease in the coming years.

The movement to block the text of the Commission from Berlin was an initiative of the liberals of the FDP.

This small party, which according to opinion polls gathers about 5% of the voting intention, has lost five consecutive local election contests. He hopes to counter the Environmentalists as a political force by taking on the role of defender of the car by betting on the negative attitude of a large part of the German population towards the ban on heat engines.

To ensure the unity of his governing coalition, Chancellor Olaf Solz preferred to support the FDP’s position.

The German chancellor appeared optimistic on Thursday night about the lifting of the blockade of the European regulation on CO2 of cars. “He is on the right track. Now it is enough to find a way to implement this promise” for synthetic fuels, “which has been formulated a long time ago by the Commission”, he said.

The industry for its part, taking the European regulatory framework for the car for granted, has invested massively in electric cars.

Even if established, synthetic fuels, which currently do not exist, “will not play a significant role in the medium term in the share occupied by private cars,” Markus Nussmann, the head of Audi (Volkswagen Group), told Spiegel magazine.