BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - In the dispute over the EU's planned phase-out of new cars with internal combustion engines from 2035, Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has stressed the advantages of synthetic fuels (e-fuels). "We need e-fuels, because there is no alternative to them at all, in order to operate our existing fleet in a climate-neutral way," he said on ARD's "Morgenmagazin" on Wednesday. Anyone who is serious about climate-neutral mobility must keep all technological options open. That would include internal combustion engines refueling e-fuels, he added.

"If we already need e-fuels in large quantities to keep the existing fleet climate-neutral, then there is every reason to allow internal combustion engines even beyond 2035 if they run exclusively on synthetic fuels," Wissing said.

The FDP politician had threatened on Tuesday not to agree to the planned end of new registrations of new cars with internal combustion engines in the EU. The EU Commission must deliver and keep promises, he said. The issue at stake is the approval of internal combustion vehicles after 2035 if they can be proven to be fueled with synthetic fuels. The Brussels authority should make a corresponding regulatory proposal - otherwise Germany will not agree.

The Green Party then voiced criticism. Bremen's mobility senator Maike Schaefer told the German Press Agency that the auto lobby was driving Wissing and the FDP before it. She said there was a compromise paper from the federal government with a test mandate for e-fuels. Wissing had no mandate to announce that Germany could not agree to a phasing out of internal combustion engines, he said.

"The debate about using e-fuels in passenger cars is pure wishful thinking on the part of combustion fetishists, given the energy intensity involved in their production, despite all their faith in technology," Schaefer said. "The fact that the FDP is targeting this clientele of voters shows that it cares less and less about fighting the climate crisis in the face of dwindling votes."

The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), on the other hand, backed Wissing. "We need all climate-friendly technologies to achieve the EU climate targets," said VDA head Hildegard Müller. Because e-fuels are particularly important for the carbon footprint of already registered combustion engines, the debate must be reopened, she said. The ball is now in the Commission's court./jcf/DP/tih