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The EU should remove its total ban on selling new cars with combustion engines after 2035 to help preserve its vehicle industry, said the head of the largest political group in the European Parliament.
Manfred Weber, who heads the European President of the Commission party, Ursula von der Leyen, told Financial Times that people should be able to buy petrol and diesel cars as long as the carbon emitted is offset.
“I use a classic combustion engine, with conventional fuel, but I then pay to store CO₂ in the ground-it is probably a business model for the future,” he said.
Other options may include hybrids and extensibles, he said.
His intervention comes as the EU debates the future of its 2035 ban on new combustion engines given the turmoil in the automotive industry. Several major European car manufacturers and suppliers of car parts, including Volkswagen and Bosch, announced thousands of job cuts last year while they were fighting against cost increase and cheap Chinese imports.
American imports of cars were subject to 25% prices by the Trump administration.
The United Kingdom has watered its own electric vehicle objectives earlier this month, reducing punitive fines to support the automotive industry. While the 2030's elimination date for new petrol and diesel cars remains in place, the government will now allow manufacturers to sell rechargeable and rechargeable hybrid vehicles until 2035.
The ACEA, the European automotive industry, estimated that 67 billion euros in car exports, based on figures for 2024, will be affected by American samples.
After heavy lobbying of the industry, Brussels of March granted the manufacturers the cars a small stay of the more strict emissions targets by doing them on average over a period of three years to 2027, but the prohibition of 2035 is still possible.
Wopke Hoekstra, EU’s EPP climate commissioner, said on several occasions of the Bloc's commitment to the 2035 law. It should be examined in 2026, but Brussels has promised to “accelerate” the pressure work on car manufacturers and member states such as Germany and Italy, which are pressure for exceptions for alternative fuels made from renewable sources.
The recent German government coalition agreement has also focused on moving and carbon credits as a means of achieving wider climatic objectives.
But he is engaged in the 2035 target which only authorizes the combustion engines fueled by “e-fuel” generated by renewal.
A senior EU has said that the inclusion of carbon compensation as a reason for exemption or to authorize hybrids and end -ends was “exotic” options that would be “very improbable”.
Slow sales of electric vehicles in the EU have already resumed in the first two months of this year, increasing 28.4% compared to the same period in 2024, according to ACEA figures.
In Germany, the country of origin of Weber, new registrations for electric vehicles increased by 41% in annual sliding in January and February, said the ACEA.
Weber said that the EPP wanted to “show the world that you can have economic growth with ecological responsibility. And on the other hand, we must do it in a way that is fully technologically neutral. This is what we defend.
“There are now a lot of new technologies,” he said, arguing that industry should be allowed to innovate as long as EU carbon reduction objectives are achieved.
“I don't know and I don't care as a politician. It is up to the company to be creative. “
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