Combustion engine phase-out wobbles

Nehammer: “Stick to it: this is the wrong way”

Chancellor Nehammer reacts to statements made by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

After EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen backtracked on Wednesday on the issue of phasing out combustion engines, Austria's Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) has now spoken out. And he is sticking to his line, even though it has earned him a lot of criticism in the past ...

"I have always said that phasing out combustion engines is the wrong way to go. I've been criticized a lot for this, but I'm sticking to it and have therefore included it in my Austria plan," said Nehammer in a statement.

"Against a ban on green combustion engines"
We need openness to technology and not bans. "I am pleased that this opinion is now increasingly gaining ground in Europe and I will continue to clearly and consistently oppose a ban on green combustion engines," said Nehammer.

EU now wants consumers to have a choice
According to the EU Commission President, the aim is to ensure that there is openness for technologies and choice for consumers. The industry should also be able to choose where it wants to invest and what it sees as the mobility of the future.

In 2022, the EU agreed that from 2035, no new cars should be registered that run on petrol or diesel. The agreement already stipulated that a review would take place in 2026. In the German government, the FDP in particular had insisted that only cars fueled with climate-friendly e-fuels should be exempt from the so-called combustion engine phase-out. How this is to happen in detail has not yet been conclusively clarified.