German Chancellor wants to write to the EU about the combustion engine ban

Stuttgart (dpa) – The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will directly address the EU after a possible agreement on a common position of the governing coalition regarding the ban on combustion engines. “We will discuss our final position in the coalition again tomorrow evening, and I want to write a letter to the President of the Commission and the President of the Council immediately afterwards with the German position,” Merz said on Wednesday at an automotive strategy dialogue of the Baden-Württemberg state government in Stuttgart.

In terms of content, Merz did not want to comment further on the discussions in the coalition committee planned for Thursday with the Black-Red coalition. He did not want to preempt that, said the Chancellor. However, they would not go back from the position of the Prime Ministers’ Conference.

The state government heads demanded at the end of October a softening of the planned EU-wide ban on new combustion engines after 2035. “A rigid ban on combustion technology from the year 2035 without regard to its actual feasibility would not only jeopardize core industrial competencies and the competitiveness of the automotive location Germany but also the societal acceptance of electromobility as a whole,” states a resolution paper. 

Merz had also emphasized several times that he wanted to advocate for changes at the European Union regarding the planned end of the approval of combustion engines in 2035. However, there is still no common line in the coalition on this issue. The governing Social Democrats generally want to stick to the exit date for new combustion engines from 2035. Their chairman Lars Klingbeil has recently shown openness to solutions that connect electromobility and combustion technologies. (November 26)