CO₂ emissions: MEPs relax rules for the car industry

On Thursday, May 8, MEPs approved a relaxation of the rules imposed on car manufacturers regarding CO₂ emissions, in order to avoid fines in 2025 – a request from the European executive to support this industry in crisis. This flexibility mechanism is part of the support plan for the automotive industry announced in early March by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The measure, denounced by environmentalists, involves taking emissions into account over three years, from 2025 to 2027, instead of just one year. This gives manufacturers behind schedule and avoids penalties on the December 31, 2025 deadline. The measure concerns the manufacture and sale of new vehicles, both cars and light commercial vehicles.

The text adopted in plenary session in Strasbourg (458 votes for, 101 against, 14 abstentions) was supported by a majority made up of the right (European People's Party, EPP), the Socialists and Democrats group as well as the centrists and liberals of Renew.

"The pressure from manufacturers was such that it was deemed necessary to establish a three-year average instead of reading the meters on December 31," French MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew) explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

For the EPP, the Parliament's largest group, MEP Laurent Castillo welcomed "a first step to strengthen the European automobile market," which has been weakened by Chinese competition in the electric market. The French MP said he now has his sights set on 2035, the deadline for banning the sale of combustion engine cars in the European Union (EU). "The next step will be to revise this obligation."

Conversely, Saskia Bricmont (The Greens/European Free Alliance) accused this relaxation of fines of "delaying the commercialization of affordable electric vehicles that are essential" for European consumers. "This is incomprehensible, it is yet another step backward in the fight against climate change," the Belgian elected official wrote in a press release.

On the far right, the Patriots for Europe group – which includes French elected representatives from the National Rally (RN) – deemed this three-year flexibility "insufficient," calling for the "complete repeal" of the fine mechanism established by the EU. "Europeans do not support the all-electric strategy (...), whatever the ideologues in Brussels may think," RN president Jordan Bardella told the press.