Von der Leyen extends hand to the auto industry

Brussels -Aid to European electric battery manufacturers, accelerate the review process on the stop to conventional engines from 2035, and, most importantly, freeze fines for three years for manufacturers that fail to meet sustainability criteria set by the EU’s Green Agenda. The second strategic dialogue for the auto industry’s future sees EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet the industry’s demands halfway.

She herself announces the European Commission’s new approach to sustainable transport. First and foremost is the issue of fines. New anti-emission requirements for car manufacturers are already in effect this year. Specifically, EU regulations impose a 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven threshold. It is an average figure calculated on the total emissions produced by registered four-wheelers. In essence, fewer diesel and gasoline cars must sold and an increasing number of low- and/or zero-emission vehicles. Failure to do so will trigger fines.

Von der Leyen strikes the right balance to avoid calling into question her actions of the last legislature. “To address this in a balanced manner, I will propose a focused amendment to the CO2 Standards Regulation this month. Instead of annual compliance, companies will get three years.” It is a compromise that saves rules the EU Commission president does not plan to change.

Von der Leyen is confident that unchanged emission thresholds but flexibility to the auto industry is the right way to secure the green light from the EU Council and Parliament and offload pressure from her party, the EPP, which calls for correctives. In addition, after listening to European manufacturers, the president of the European Commission said she would “speed up work on the review” of the regulation that imposes a stop to conventional engines from 2035. The review was scheduled for 2026 but should now conducted by this year, contrary to what has already been stated.

In the renewed EU work agenda, the idea so dear to Italy seems to be making room for itself to go down the path of biofuels, which, so far, has been excluded from the mix for clean mobility by the European Commission. In revising the regulation, “full technological neutrality remains the core principle,” von der Leyen again sounded.

 It doesn’t end there because, in the face of criticism for an EU agenda too skewed toward electric, von der Leyen announced that in Brussels, “we will explore direct support” for European battery manufacturers. “Because while our own production is in the process of scaling up, we see that imported batteries are cheaper,” she denounces. At the same time, “we cannot let our electric cars be more expensive.”  Hence, there is a need to study measures that would incentivize production in Europe.