Sweden Hits Back at Merz Call to Lift EU Combustion Engine Ban

Sweden Hits Back at Merz Call to Lift EU Combustion Engine Ban

Financial Post — 2025-09-29

News from Brussels

Sweden will oppose a push by Germany to water down the European Union’s 2035 deadline to effectively ban combustion engines in new vehicles, arguing that such a move would punish those carmakers that have made major investments in the green transition.

Ebba Busch, Sweden’s energy and industry minister, rebuffed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said last week that the EU should allow automotive technologies like range-extenders and hybrid vehicles after 2035, which runs counter to the bloc’s zero-emissions objective. She said that the EU should instead focus its efforts on combating unfair competition by Chinese EV manufacturers.

“We cannot ask the private sector to make mass investments of billions of euros and then pull away and just move the target when they have done their homework,” Busch said in Brussels. “We are not interested in backing down from the target of 2035.”

It sets the stage for another tough debate on the future of the EU car industry. Germany had dropped its opposition to the 2035 goal, which was agreed in early 2023, after it secured promises to exempt so-called e-fuels, made using renewable power and CO2 captured from the atmosphere. Yet it now wants to go further in exempting other technologies.

Merz said he will promote his proposal at an informal meeting of EU leaders scheduled for Oct. 1 in Copenhagen, which will be followed by their regular, quarterly gathering in Brussels later next month.

Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Car AB is one of the most ambitious on decarbonizing its fleet and has repeatedly called on the commission to stick to its emissions-cutting goals to help provide regulatory certainty for those that have already invested heavily in new technology.