Italy, Germany Ask for Accelerated Review of Green Deal

Italy’s Minister of Business and Production, Adolfo Urso, wants to put forward a clause to renegotiate the European Green Deal, scheduled for 2026.

The Italian government wants to be able to change in advance the direction and timing of the adoption of community rules concerning the automotive sector, the main sufferer of the Old Continent, in the context of the energy transition.

“We need a pragmatic and realistic vision for the automotive sector and, in general, for industrial policy,” explained Urso, as reported by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, emphasizing that there is a problem in EU trade policy, namely a gap “between what Europe thinks and the time it will take to implement, which is inadequate compared to global competition. Particularly as far as the automotive sector is concerned.”

The Green Deal aims to end the use of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, but is expected to be renegotiated at the end of 2026, which will also address interim targets. In the opinion of the Italian minister, this is too late. And support came from German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, perhaps unexpected not so much by the country he comes from (remember the Volkswagen crisis) but by his party. Indeed: Habeck is a member of the Green Party. But he also requires a faster revision of EU CO₂ emission standards for cars, according to a report by Euractiv.

Habeck defended the EU’s decision to abolish gasoline and diesel cars by 2035 anyway: “If you question that, you question 2050 (the year in which climate neutrality is set to be achieved, – ed.). I don’t want that. Absolutely not.”

Instead, the Italian government, which will tomorrow submit a proposal for a revision to Brussels through Minister Urso, also intends to revise the future 2035 ban. This position is also shared by the new leader of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU), Friedrich Merz, currently in opposition in Germany.