Here’s a soap opera that most players in the automotive world could do without. After several caveats, the final vote by the Council of the European Union on the ban on the sale of thermal cars in Europe from 2035, originally scheduled for March 7, postponed to a later date.

After Italy and Poland, who were against this reform, it would seem that Germany’s recent “mistrust” of the measure has outweighed the scales. Remember that Germany believes that the future of mobility will also depend on new renewable fuels such as synthetic fuelsbut the European text does not currently mention these alternatives at all.

Voting was postponed to an unknown date

And a possible “no” from Berlin – together with those of Italy and Poland, as well as the abstention of Bulgaria – will create a kind of impasse, thus dispelling Brussels’ plans for this measure. Therefore, the Chairman of the EU decided to postpone the final vote until the date is still unknown.

“We will return to this in due time”, said Daniel Holmberg, spokesman for Coreper, the body that occupies a central place in the EU’s decision-making system, coordinating and preparing the work of all Council meetings. Coreper is trying to reach an agreement at its level, which will then be submitted to the Council for approval.

Coreper I decided to postpone the decision on the 2035 car emissions target from March 7 to the next Council meeting. Coreper will return to this matter in due course.

— Daniel Holmberg (@danielholmberg) March 3, 2023

Italy is at the head of the procession

Remember that it was Italy that took the “leading role” in this fight against the termination of heat sales in Europe. In its quest, Italy found several allies, including Poland and Bulgaria, that abstained from the vote.

It remains to clear the doubts of the German government, divided between two majorities: the Greens and the Liberal Democratic Party. The former are convinced that stopping heat engines in 2035 is a good thing, while the latter want Europe to be more open to other technologies such as hydrogen, synthetic fuels or even biofuels.

Coreper has already postponed this vote for the first time since 1^Er March 3 to try to find a solution with Berlin. But after 48 hours of negotiations, the desired compromise failed.