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News from Brussels
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has promised he will do his utmost to ensure the survival of the combustion engine, joining Germany in opposing the EU’s plan to ban diesel and petrol cars from 2035.
Banning the sale of cars emitting CO2 from 2035 is a key part of the EU’s efforts to become climate neutral by 2050. While the de facto ban seemed broadly on track, Germany and now Austria – which has so far been viewed as backing the Commission’s proposal for a 2035 ban – have called the ban into question.
“I, too, will speak out against banning the internal combustion engine” should EU leaders vote on the matter, said Nehammer during a political speech on his future vision for Austria in which he also described his country as a “car country”.
What kind of vision of the future bans “the internal combustion engine and then focuses only on a sole propulsion mechanism?” he also asked.
To better protect the environment, Austria aims to become climate neutral by 2040.
By late 2022, around 2.2% of Austria’s 7.6 million registered and street-legal cars were electric, while the total number of newly registered vehicles accounted for 16% of all cars.