it flag go to the original language article
This article has been translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The news agency is not responsible for the content of the translated article. The original was published by ANSA.

Ribera closes in Rome on cars, but in the EU there is a clash

by AI | 07.Dec 2024 | Europe in brief AI

A first compromise is considered feasible: that of freezing the sanctions that will come into effect from next year for those who do not meet the initial target of a 15% reduction in emissions for new vehicles by 2025.

Cars on the highway. Photo: Alejandro Martínez Vélez / Europa Press (Archive photo) 30/6/2023

“`html

Brussels (ANSA) – “No U-turn by the EU Commission on the stop to diesel and petrol engines from 2035”. The EU Commission Vice President with the mandate for Clean Transition, Teresa Ribera, closed firmly on a possible backtrack from Brussels, indirectly responding also to Giorgia Meloni, according to whom EU regulations on automotive risk “bringing the sector to its knees”.

The hypothesis of a U-turn “is not something we are considering and I would say it is not something practically anyone is considering”, Ribera emphasized speaking during the visit to the ArcelorMittal plant in Gent. The final position of the Commission could be less cutthroat.

A first compromise is deemed feasible: freezing the penalties that will start from next year for those who do not comply with the first target of 15% emission reduction for new vehicles until 2025. Avoiding hefty fines for car manufacturers – which could weigh up to 15 billion euros – is one of the requests that have reached Brussels from Italy and the Czech Republic, formalized in an informal document (‘non-paper’) also supported by Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Poland.

In the document the 7 EU countries ask, first of all, to bring forward to the beginning of 2025 the review foreseen by the regulation to intervene urgently and create the right conditions to hit the final 2035 target. A point on which Rome is ready to fight to the last, also supported by the Popular Party, which will vote on Wednesday in assembly a document quite in line with the Italian one.

“We will work to make sure that the ecological transition gets back in line with economic and social sustainability”, assured Meloni (December 3).

“`