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EU flags in front of the European Commission in Brussels

Photo: Johanna Geron / REUTERS

European Union countries passed a law on Friday to reduce truck emissions. This was announced by the Belgian EU Council Presidency.

A majority of EU countries approved the truck law on Friday. The vote had previously been postponed because the German government was initially unable to agree on a common position. If Germany had abstained from the vote, the majority might have been missing.

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The so-called fleet limits regulate how much climate-damaging CO2 vehicles will be allowed to emit in the future. According to the agreement, CO2 emissions from coaches and trucks should be reduced by 90 percent by 2040 - compared to 2019. The agreement, which has now been agreed among the EU states, must also be approved by the plenary session of the European Parliament.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) recently complained that e-fuels were not taken into account in the regulation. This reservation has now been integrated into the law. On Friday, the federal government decided to support the regulation in all points. However, she also called on the EU Commission to examine how commercial vehicles can be operated with so-called e-fuels even after 2040.

The vote on the EU supply chain law had previously been postponed at the meeting of the EU ambassadors. The law is intended to make companies across Europe responsible for child labor, exploitation and environmental pollution in the production of their goods. The background to the postponement was also disagreements in the federal government.

Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) called the law in its current form “unreasonable for small and medium-sized companies.” A majority in the EU seemed impossible without Germany's vote.

col/mfh/dpa