- Six EU leaders want the Commission to ease 2035 emissions rules.
- Slower EV demand and high costs are driving policy resistance.
- Chinese rivals and trade tensions add pressure on lawmakers.
Back in 2023, the European Union agreed to effectively ban the sale of new combustion-engined cars from 2035 by tightening fleet emissions rules to the point where only zero-emission vehicles could comply. Now, a coalition of six leaders says that plan needs the equivalent of a software update.
Related: Germany Might Have Just Saved Gas Engines From A European Ban
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Poland’s Donald Tusk, Slovakia’s Robert Fico, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Bulgaria’s Rosen Zhelyazkov have written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urging her to ease the rules.
Their request? Let plug-in hybrids, range extenders and fuel-cell vehicles live on past 2035, rather than forcing an all-EV endgame.
Can Europe Afford to Go All-Electric?
Europe’s auto industry, they warn, is facing a perfect storm of weak EV demand, aggressive Chinese competition, high energy prices, rising labor costs and looming US trade tariffs.
Killing off every internal combustion option in one stroke, they say, risks turning Europe into an “industrial desert,” Bloomberg reports. Crucially, the timing matters. The planned review of the emissions rules was originally set for 2026, but it’s been brought forward to this month after EV adoption failed to accelerate as expected.
Carmakers like Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault are watching closely because billions of euros in future investments hangs in the balance.
Italy and Germany have been particularly vocal about protecting their automotive sectors, while France has taken a more EV-first stance, pushing for policies to protect jobs through electric investment.
The six leaders are calling for “technological neutrality,” arguing there’s no single silver bullet for decarbonization. In other words banning one technology to save the planet while handing market share to foreign rivals might not be the smartest long-term play.
More EV trouble overseas
Zoom out, and Europe isn’t alone in second-guessing hard deadlines. Across the Atlantic, California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez recently said the agency will “rethink” its own 2035 goal for all-electric and plug-in hybrid sales, Politico reported.
The state’s plan was already facing difficulties after Senate Republicans voted earlier this year to strip California of its authority to set its own vehicle emissions rules, including blocking its plan to stop sales of gas-powered vehicles.
