Often, the proposals of the European Commission include deadlines and dates that are later, throughout the legislative process, revised downwards by governments or MEPs. This is not what has happened with the plan to ban the sale of cars with combustion engines in the European Union in the year 2035. The date, finally, appears in the legislation approved last week by the Council and the European Parliament.
The countdown has begun, and the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton (Paris, 1955) affirms that he is “completely committed” to this objective, but he does not in any way minimize the magnitude of the transformation that Europe faces in order to make this objective a reality. In an interview with La Vanguardia and other European media, Breton does not rule out the possibility of reviewing the deadlines (“without taboos”, he says, implying a possible postponement) or adopting support measures.
Not all the actors involved in this process have accepted the decision well, there are many doubts about Europe's ability to meet that deadline, beyond what the industry can do.
It is no secret that when we proposed the legislation I advocated longer deadlines, but we must respect the decisions that have been made and do everything possible to achieve that goal. It is a very important milestone for the industry, large and small companies, administrations and users. Personally, I am satisfied that I have been listened to and a clause [an emergency brake] has been included that allows us to evaluate the situation in 2026 (not in 2028 or 2029 as others said) and sit down to see if we are going to be able to comply or if adjustments need to be made. I am going to dedicate all my energies to meeting the 2035 deadline, but we know that before that we have a review clause.
How will the situation be monitored?
I have just created a group with representatives of all the actors involved (industry, consumers, administrations, electricity providers...) that will meet every three months. We will see how we are doing in meeting certain indicators by 2035. For example, we know that if we want all cars to be electric by then, we will need an additional 150 gigawatts of electricity production each year, which must also be free of CO2 emissions. There also have to be enough public charging points. For 30 million electric cars on the roads in 2030 we will need 6.8 million, and right now there are only 350,000, of which 70% are in Germany, France and the Netherlands. Then there are the batteries. The demand for raw materials is going to increase significantly in 2030. We are going to need 15 times more lithium, four times more cobalt, four times more graphite... How are we going to get them in a saturated market and without creating new dependencies? In terms of employment, moving to the electric car will involve the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs, we estimate that around 600,000 in the entire chain. They will be replaced by others, but perhaps not in the same place, and workers will need to be trained. Finally, the electric car has to be accessible to everyone. Today it costs an average of 30% more than one with a combustion engine, about 6,000 euros more. We have to avoid a social gap, everyone must maintain the ability to move by car during the transition. We are going to follow all these aspects with the group that we just created to make sure that we are on the right track and correct what needs to be done. When 2026 arrives we will see where we are and if it is necessary to change something, change it, without taboos.
In the meantime, combustion engines will continue to be used.
Yes, although from 2035 only electric cars will be sold in the EU, by 2050 at least 20% of the total on our roads will have combustion engines. That is why the new standards that we are going to present next week, the new Euro 7 standard, are very important. There is a part that is oriented to CO2 and another to the rest of the emissions, those of the brakes and wheels, which are also very important and they must be reduced. It will be necessary to continue producing cars with combustion engines, but they must be as clean as possible, hence the new regulations. Nothing in the legislation prevents our industry from continuing to sell cars with thermal engines outside Europe and I am very much in favor of them doing so. We will do everything possible to reach the 2035 target, but the rest of the world will not be as ambitious and the transition will take longer outside of Europe. That is why our industry must be able to continue selling its products, with cleaner engines, in Latin America, Africa, China or North America.
Is that something they're asking you for?
I don't want to talk about specific business strategies. Some want to go completely to the electric car and others think that the thermal market will continue to be important and they want to be there. Europe is not an island. We must contribute to reducing CO2 emissions outside the continent and we have the knowledge to do so. It would be a mistake to leave that market only to China.
China is ready to sell electric cars to Europe. Some sectors demand that European industry be protected.
We have to make sure that the competition is fair, which is why we have set out a very clear battery strategy, with very strict regulation for all components. If they want to enter our market, they will have to fulfill those obligations. We are working hard to adopt it as soon as possible. We will see if it is enough or if more measures need to be taken.
When you talk about supporting European industry during the transition, what do you have in mind?
Funding may need to be provided to support specific regions. We will have to monitor the situation very closely and in 2026 see if it is necessary to adopt measures then, such as a specific item in the next budget, or earlier if necessary.
Doesn't the Inflation Reduction Law in the United States and its aid to the manufacture of electric cars weaken Europe?
It is unfortunate that one of our closest partners has put in place this strategy to stimulate renewable energy, which contains elements that are probably discriminatory towards the EU. There are companies in the automotive and solar sector that may prefer to go to work there. All this creates an unfair competition between the two continents and I am seriously concerned. The Commission is analyzing it within the framework of the World Trade Organization, but we Europeans must strengthen our ability to attract investment in renewables.
