Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7th, should have been the day of the final vote on ending the registration and sale of combustion cars from 2035. Instead, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU had to take note of the opposition from some key countries and postponing the final vote on a process that began with the Commission's proposal on July 14, 2021 to a later date.
The no block
Poland and Italy have announced that they will vote against, something reaffirmed yesterday by the company minister, Adolfo Urso, while the Bulgaria he said he will abstain (abstention counts as a negative vote). But it is obviously Germany that makes the front solid, the leading country of the EU, which needs to find a synthesis between positions that are often not aligned in the Socialist-Green-Liberal government alliance. After the Minister of Transport Volker Wissingliberal, was the same leader of the FDP, Christian Lindner, to explicitly say that its aim is that “cars with internal combustion engines can be registered in Germany after 2035”, reports the Hamburger Abendblatt. Without Italy, Poland, Germany and Bulgaria, only about 58% of the EU population are in favour, less than the 65% required by qualified majority (the other condition, at least 15 Member States are satisfied, because there are 23 in Favor ).
What can happen
A reopening of the text, negotiated and agreed some time ago, is very difficult to imagine. Germany has indicated that it wants the Commission to move forward a proposal on the use of e-fuels, except biofuels: e-fuels, such as e-methane, e-kerosene and e-methanol, are fuels in gaseous or liquid form produced from renewable electricity (solar or wind energy, for example) or decarbonized. The Commission underlined, through its spokespersons, the “novelty” of the concerns that have arisen among Member States and said that it will now study the best way to proceed.
Policy
On the political level, it is quite clear that the victory of the Fdi-led centre-right in Italy, which is a large EU country, shifts the balance in Brussels, even if it's hard to think that today's postponement is the prelude to a profound revision of the text. Now, however, the German Liberals, fighting as minority partners in a left-wing coalition, have found a side on the Council in two countries governed by the ECR, the Conservatives, who are the Italy of Giorgia Meloni and Poland of Mateusz Morawiecki.
After all, perplexities about regulation, at least in Italy, are not exclusive to the right and centre-right: the former president of the European Commission Romano Prodiwho knows business well, also recently explained why he believes it is wrong to focus on such an ambitious target, which risks paralyzing the automotive supply chain, especially in Italy, and accentuating Europe's dependence on raw materials and supplies outside the EU.
And even the Commissioner for the Economy Paulo Gentiloniwho by personal history is far from being insensitive to environmental issues (he directed Nuova Ecologia, the magazine Legambiente for 8 years) and is a great defender of the validity of the Green Deal, last night in Brussels, on the occasion of the presentation of Angela's latest book Mauro, noted, quoting Giuliano Ferrara, that it is advisable to be cautious when playing “at home and in the car”.
The Italian supply chain
The problem is, among other things, that the Italian automotive supply chain is, at least in part, tied to the internal combustion engine and an accelerated transition to all-electric is likely to have a significant impact, too. in terms of employment, especially in SMEs in Northern Italy. Today the Commission, when asked about it, gave a vague answer, without providing precise estimates of the jobs that would be lost (the trade associations estimated losses of around 500,000 jobs at EU level).