Rififi in Brussels. While we seemed to be moving towards the final validation of the banning of heat engines in 2035, voted by the European Parliament on February 14, four refractory countries will exercise their right of veto. Four obstacles to going around in circles among which we find Germany, Italy, Poland and Bulgaria. This is according to the Council of Ambassadors of the European Union, which was to ratify the text on March 1 before its publication in the Official Journal of the EU on March 7.
However, this council was adjourned to an unspecified date in order to give itself the time necessary to obtain a qualified majority of the votes. With an unguaranteed result, because, to be ratified, the text must receive this last green light from the ambassadors, according to a vote which "is done by qualified majority, reaching two simultaneous conditions: that 55% of the Member States vote for and only those states supporting the proposal representing at least 65% of the total EU population”. But turmoil, against the advice of Olaf Scholz, the SPD Chancellor, and against Robert Habeck, the Green Vice-Chancellor, the Liberal Economy Minister Christian Lindner, prevents the German government from approving the end of the heat engine in 2035 for new vehicles in Europe.
End of the thermal engine in 2035: Germany blocks the decision
By doing so, Mr. Lindner is not acting alone but is joining the disgruntled platoon led, it must be remembered, in a very determined way by Italy. With different arguments, because he believes for his part that, if it is necessary to maintain the technological culture of the thermal engine, which will continue outside the borders of Europe, it remains viable in Europe beyond 2035 thanks to biofuels.
Italy reasons differently, the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, Matteo Salvini, vehemently denouncing from February 14 last "madness, absolute stupidity, an ideological choice or in bad faith", asserted the boss of the League (extreme right). "How could Italian MEPs vote for a measure that destroys [the jobs of] Italian workers and only benefits China? launched the Deputy Prime Minister. Italian MEPs from the right-wing and far-right government coalition led by Giorgia Meloni voted against the text, unlike those from the center and the left.
Initially approved in June 2022 by the 27 EU Member States, including Italy, the text has been opposed since the Meloni government took office in October 2022.
"The deadlines imposed on us by Europe do not coincide with the European and especially Italian reality" and "represent a risk for employment" in the automotive sector, protested the Minister of Enterprises, Adolfo Urso. "We cannot face reality with this ideological and sectarian vision that seems to emerge from European institutions," he added.
An opinion shared by Giorgia Meloni who argued that the energy transition "must be gradual and must not disadvantage Italian and European companies", in a "global market where there are no such strict rules".
Poland and Bulgaria follow, adding 38 million and 7 million respectively to the 84 million Germans and 60 million Italians. It is therefore impossible to satisfy the rule mentioned above of 65% of Europeans approving the decision and allowing the ban on heat engines to be ratified. In this growing sling, France is rolling blindly for the diktat in favor of all-electric. At the risk of denying oneself one day and starting a reverse course like the pitiful one recently carried out on nuclear power. Instead of advocating a depollution objective to be achieved, France is misguided by imposing, like too many European countries, the single technical solution to be adopted from the electric motor.
But that's without taking into account the discontent that is rising in the less well-off population, those who cannot consider buying an electric car, despite the aid put in place. Aid that largely benefits those who need it the least. The revelation for the average citizen, hitherto little concerned, is the vice of bans on access to city centers of more than 150,000 inhabitants, put in place by mayors on the orders of politicians from Paris.
Even if they have a certain latitude to apply them, the city councilors are beginning to worry about the social and economic consequences of such measures. These are Greater Paris, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Toulouse, Nice, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Rouen, Reims and Saint-Étienne. The 32 other agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants must have established a ZFE by 2025. On that date, if the plan is applied, only the Crit'Air 1 and 2 and Verte vignettes will still be able to circulate, the rest of the fleet , or 40% of it, being forbidden to stay.
Eventually, probably 2030, the objective is to only welcome zero-emission cars in these cities. Some mayors have already been moved by this situation, the difficulty of setting up EPZs with an impact on the very life of city centers. There is also the disparity of constraints from one city to another since each is free to decide on its own rules. And each violation or failure to display the sticker will be penalized by a PV of 68 euros. With the first sanctions, the movement of rejection of the population could increase which has already pushed back several municipalities like Lyon or provoked demonstrations like in Rouen.
It's not yet a groundswell but it could soon look like it, like the Yellow Vests of old, but this time with a European population entirely concerned since France is not a special case. Everything is played out in Brussels now with four countries advocating more realism. And this even if everyone is won over to a reduction in pollution, widely explored by the automobile industry for thirty years and which, although the focus of all criticism, no longer represents, with the elimination of old vehicles, only 16% of the total for greenhouse gases alone. Let's talk a bit about the remaining 84%!
