Brussels wants to kill off the combustion engine. Instead, it’s supercharging Europe’s populists.
Right-wing parties are running hard against the EU’s law that bans the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars from 2035. It’s happening in the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, France, Poland and elsewhere. In response, centrist parties with a more established voice in Brussels are turning against the law to avoid losing traction to their far-right rivals.
It’s far from the only issue for populist parties — most of which base a large part of their appeal on battling immigration — but the EU’s green car effort is one that speaks to many voters angry about Brussels threatening to take away their beloved combustion engine cars.
In Prague, the far-right Motorists for Themselves party denounced “green fanatics” and made a breakthrough in the national election last month with almost 7 percent of the vote.
