In a clash of narratives, Germany is claiming an early victory in watering down the EU’s 2035 combustion engine ban, but there’s a lot of pushback in Brussels warning that Berlin jumped the gun and the issue is still in play.
It all comes to a head on Tuesday, when the European Commission is supposed to put forward its automotive package. It will include a reform of the 2035 legislation that acts as a de facto combustion engine ban, along with a new initiative on switching corporate fleets — vehicles owned or leased by companies for business purposes — to greener vehicles.
The 2035 ban has attracted a lot of flak, especially from Germany. Manfred Weber — the German chief of the center-right European People’s Party — is already crowing that, together with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he succeeded in getting the Commission to bend.
He told German media on Thursday that “the technology ban on combustion engines is off the table.”
