The European Parliament votes in favor of banning combustion cars in 2035 and brings the final decision one step closer

• Those affected by the 'dieselgate' have the right to request compensation

• Wayne Griffiths, CEO of Seat "Cupra will enter more money than Seat in 2023"

The Plenary of the European Parliament has voted this Wednesday in favor of prohibiting the sale of cars with combustion engines from 2035, after the deputies rejected at the last moment an amendment promoted by conservative groups to soften the legislation.

The European Parliament, with 339 votes in favor and 249 against, thus maintains the ambition of the proposal launched almost a year ago by the European Commission and establishes its position in the face of the negotiation that is now starting with the national governments, the ministers, to turn into community law all the aspects that should lead to climate neutrality in 2050.

The story comes from afar.

In December 2020, after a long push and pull, the leaders of the

committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and reducing CO2 emissions compared to 1990 by 55%.

It was no longer mere talk, or aspirations, but a binding goal.

An agreement between all parties, promoted by the 'popular' Von der Leyen and his vice presidents Timmermans (socialist) or Vestager (liberal).

A grand coalition agreement, backed by the Greens and defined as the main task of the legislature.

In July of last year, the European Commission presented its plan to carry out the task and named it Fit for 55. A battery of measures, reforms and new legislation that should push the most polluting sectors to drastically reduce their emissions.

In that package, the Commission, which is the one that has the legislative initiative in the Union, set a date for the end of the sale of cars with injection engines and fossil fuels: 2035. The calculation is that the average life of the vehicle is 15 years , so to achieve neutrality in 2050, production would have to stop three decades earlier.

This Wednesday the European Parliament has spoken in its plenary session, but that does not mean that the discussion has ended.

The decision-making process in the EU is longer and more complicated than in a country, and the European Parliament has a role, a key one, but not the main one or the final one.

A year ago the Ursula von der Leyen Commission made its proposal.

Now the MEPs, after long discussions between all the groups, set their position.

Then the national governments do it through their ministers (the Council) and then what are known as trilogues begin, long negotiations in which the European Parliament traditionally pushes towards more demanding standards (labour, environmental, rights) while the capitals have to go in the opposite direction.

And when they seal a pact, it becomes law.

Last month, Parliament's Environment Committee, which has been working on the issue since 2021, ruled in favor of

, five years the previous term.

As well as

(synthetic fuels that are not derived from petroleum).

This Wednesday his recommendation reached the plenary, which however had an amendment promoted by the European People's Party on the table to soften the proposal.

Traditionally, the chamber is the one that asks for more, but conservative groups, after a pandemic and in the midst of the war with Ukraine, are defending a position that they define as "more realistic", and in which they suggest reducing emissions from those engines by 90%, not completely, to give the industry a little more margin.

They have been close, but in a very busy day the camera has chosen to maintain 100%.

chaotic day

The vote in Strasbourg has taken place in one of the strangest and most controversial sessions in recent times.

It was a big day for the green transition, with at least eight parts of the Fit for 55 on the table, and at least three fundamental and disputed issues in addition to the vote on the engines, but it went awry in an unexpected way.

It was with

Mohammed Chahim, rapporteur on the border adjustment mechanism issue, visibly angry.

Seeing what had happened, and taking into account that other issues such as the so-called Border Adjustment Mechanism (which seeks to tax imports from outside the EU of products manufactured without taking into account the same climate standards) and the Social Fund for the Climate (which proposes to

in the energy transition), are inevitably linked to STDs, the deputies chose to stop the vote and return the ball to the roof of the ENVI Commission so that re-negotiate and fix position without last minute surprises.

The so-called ETS system, which puts a price on the carbon dioxide emitted by some 11,000 energy-intensive industrial plants, includes a series of

in clean technologies and remain competitive.

What was not clear was for how long.

The text approved by the Environment Commission last month established that these permits

but an amendment introduced by the European People's Party has extended the deadline until 2034, reports Efe.

So the left and green deputies have backed down and returned the proposal.

Environmentalists' reaction

From the organization Transport & Environment, Carlos Rico, explains that "the deadline means that the last cars with fossil fuels will be sold in 2035, which gives us the opportunity to fight to avoid galloping climate change. The elimination of diesel engines Combustion is also a historic opportunity to help end our dependence on oil and make us safer from despots, and

"

and leave no room for false green solutions like e-fuels. Allowing synthetic fuels in cars would be a costly and wasteful diversion from the mammoth task of cleaning up transport. Vehicles battery electrics are ready today and are a cleaner, cheaper and more efficient way to decarbonize."

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• European Union

• Electric cars

• Diesel

• Gasoline