Technology & Science
EU Backs Away From 100% Combustion-Engine Phase-Out for 2035
EU lawmaker Manfred Weber said the Commission will present a 16 Dec 2025 proposal replacing the 2035 total ban with a 90 % fleet-wide CO₂-cut, effectively keeping petrol and diesel cars on the market.
Focusing Facts
- Weber’s announcement came at a 12 Dec 2025 Heidelberg press conference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, two days before the official Commission reveal.
- The new draft keeps hybrids and synthetic-fuel ICEs legal after 2035 by scrapping the 100 % target and any future 2040 phase-out.
- Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez sent a 11 Dec 2025 letter to Ursula von der Leyen urging retention of the original ban, underscoring deep intra-EU division.
Context
Industrial policy has trumped headline climate ambition before: in 1981 the Reagan administration dialed back the 1979 U.S. CAFE standards after automakers warned of job losses, and California’s 1990 Zero-Emission Vehicle mandate was watered down in 2003 for similar reasons. Today’s EU retreat fits that pattern—regulation tightens during optimism (the 2023 Green Deal package) and loosens when growth stalls and foreign competition (this time Chinese EVs) threatens strategic industries. It highlights two longer trends: the continent’s perennial struggle to reconcile industrial competitiveness with decarbonisation targets, and the political clout Germany exerts inside the bloc. On a 100-year arc the decision may delay, but is unlikely to stop, the structural shift away from fossil mobility: once battery costs beat combustion on total ownership—and carbon pricing spreads globally—the market, not Brussels, will finish the job. Yet every policy wobble risks slowing capital flows and innovation, just as previous vacillations did to solar manufacturing in the 2010s, potentially ceding another strategic industry to Asia.
Perspectives
Pro-industry conservative and automotive-enthusiast media
e.g., Republic World, Top Gear — Portray the scrapping of the 2035 combustion-engine ban as a pragmatic win that safeguards tens of thousands of German auto jobs and lets consumers—not regulators—decide how to meet climate goals. Largely echoes talking points from German politicians and carmakers while downplaying the setback to EU climate targets and the long-term competitiveness risks of delaying full electrification.
Climate-policy advocates and progressive outlets/politicians
e.g., Spain’s PM Sánchez, Yahoo! Finance quoting green campaigners — Warn that watering down the 2035 ban would gut the EU Green Deal, undermine investments in electric vehicles and ultimately lock Europeans into dirtier, costlier petrol cars for longer. Focuses on environmental harms and EV-industry momentum, often glossing over current market weaknesses for battery cars and the economic fears of workers in legacy auto manufacturing.
Financial wire-service and investor-oriented outlets
e.g., Reuters via U.S. News, Devdiscourse market coverage — Frame the expected rule change as a calculated policy shift balancing emission cuts with industrial competitiveness, noting immediate stock-market gains for European automakers. Centers the narrative on market reactions and regulatory flexibility, which can understate the climate-policy retreat and give disproportionate weight to short-term shareholder interests.