Former German Minister of Economics Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) has sharply criticized the EU’s ban on combustion engines, planned to begin in 2035. “During my time in the German government, I always warned against setting a quick phase-out date for the combustion engine and was heavily criticized for this,” Gabriel told business daily Handelsblatt, according to an advance report on Oct. 6. He has “never understood why we Germans are so willfully ruining one of the most important pillars of our economy and our prosperity.” No other country in the world would do such a thing, he added.
Gabriel is particularly concerned about the automotive suppliers. “This is a silent death. Where is the outcry?” The fact that politicians are now surprised “that tens of thousands of jobs are being cut in the supplier industry is quite strange. Because it was all foreseeable.” Big manufacturers are suppressing the debate however. VW CEO Oliver Blume and Ford Supervisory Board Chairman in Germany Gunnar Herrmann have, for instance, repeatedly called for the debate to be shelved in favor of planning security for companies and consumers.
As for the planning, new EU punitive tariffs against Chinese-made e-cars will not create relief for European carmakers. There are structural problems in Europe, such as the lack of enough re-charging stations, lack of production of batteries, and higher prices than Chinese-made cars, all of which make it more likely consumers will still prefer to buy Chinese vehicles, and there is no alternative to that existing in Europe. China produces two-thirds of all e-cars globally.
The phase-out of combustion engines by 2035 is all the more questionable as “a new diesel does not have to shy away from comparison with the environmental impact of a battery-powered vehicle over the entire lifetime of the car,” Gabriel told Handelsblatt. But EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has indicated that she intends to stick to the target date of 2035.
