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Automobile: the EU abandons all-electric in 2035, a flagship measure of the “Green Deal”

by AI | 16.Dec 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Faced with the crisis affecting the automotive sector in Europe, the European Union on Tuesday abandoned its plan to require vehicle manufacturers to switch entirely to electric from 2035, which had been a flagship environmental measure.

The Renault Twingo E-Tech, an electric vehicle scheduled to go on sale in spring 2026, is presented to the press in Ivry-sur-Seine, in the Paris suburbs, on October 31, 2025. (Photo: Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Brussels – Manufacturers will be able to continue selling a limited share of new cars equipped with combustion or hybrid engines, subject to complying with multiple conditions, in particular offsetting the CO2 emissions that will result from these “flexibilities”, the European Commission has announced.

By relaxing the target for 2035, the EU is not giving up its climate ambitions, but is adopting a “pragmatic” approach in the face of the difficulties encountered by the automotive industry, argued European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, who led this plan, in an interview with AFP.

“The objective remains the same, the flexibilities are pragmatic realities in view of consumer buy-in, of the difficulty for manufacturers to offer 100% electric vehicles on the market by 2035,” he said.

With this measure, the EU is on the “right track”, welcomed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Conversely, France “regrets the flexibility opened up to combustion vehicles,” reacted the Minister for Ecological Transition Monique Barbut to AFP. (16 December 2025)