BRUSSELS/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - After weeks of wrangling over the future of cars with internal combustion engines, the German government has reached a compromise with the EU Commission. According to the agreement, new cars with such a drive system can still be registered in the EU after 2035 if they are fueled with climate-neutral fuel. "In this way, we are opening up important options for the population in the direction of climate-neutral and affordable mobility," said Transport Minister Volker Wissing in Berlin on Saturday. The auto industry welcomed the agreement, but climate activists spoke of a "lazy compromise."

The European Parliament and EU states had actually already agreed in October that only zero-emission new cars would be allowed to be registered in the EU from 2035. Germany, however, insisted that basically all cars with combustion engines that run on so-called e-fuels be included. These are fuels produced with green electricity from water and carbon dioxide. Confirmation of the agreement by the EU member states, scheduled for the beginning of March, was initially prevented by Germany. Since then, the EU Commission and the German government have been negotiating a compromise.

According to the solution now found, all cars powered by e-fuels should in principle be able to be registered. According to Wissing, concrete procedural steps and a timetable have been bindingly fixed for implementation. "We want the process to be completed by fall 2024," he said.

The final vote of all 27 EU states is now to take place next Tuesday. In addition to Germany, other countries such as Italy, Austria and Poland were originally critical of the plan. With Germany's approval, however, it is considered very likely that the necessary majority will be reached.

Whether cars powered by e-fuels actually have a chance in practice, however, is still completely open. Car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer cites the high cost of producing the fuels and the "terrible energy balance" as arguments against such drives.

- extremely large amounts of electricity are consumed during production.

Among the negative effects of the regulations, Dudenhöffer says it could lead to uncertainty in the industry when it comes to switching to electric motors. "Chinese and U.S. companies will increase the gap between them and the European industry in electric cars due to the new investment uncertainties," he says.

Nevertheless, Hildegard Müller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, reacted positively to the compromise. To be sure, she said, e-mobility remains the central technology for achieving climate targets in transport. E-fuels, however, are an important extension.

Greenpeace, on the other hand, came in for sharp criticism. "This lazy compromise undermines climate protection in transport, and it harms Europe," said the environmental organization's mobility expert, Benjamin Stephan, in Berlin. The "urgently needed focus of the car industry on efficient electromobility" would be watered down with the agreement, he added. Stephan accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of failing to stop the FDP's "ruthless blackmail of the EU."

Germany's unusual blockade maneuver in the EU is mainly due to FDP ministers Wissing and Christian Lindner (Finance). However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) let the two for the sake of coalition peace. Scholz welcomed the compromise on Saturday. Thus an agreement from the coalition agreement was implemented, he said at a citizens' meeting in Potsdam. But he also made clear that he still considers it open to application. "How many will make use of it and whether it will become relevant at all, no one can say."

The Green Party reacted with relief on Saturday that a compromise had finally been found. "It's good that this hanging game has come to an end," said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke. "Anything else would have severely damaged both confidence in European procedures and Germany's reliability in terms of European policy."

However, there are fears that in the future other EU members could also take Germany as an example and, in the case of disputes, unravel solutions that have already been found. In this respect, it is not yet possible to foresee what long-term damage the dispute has caused in the European Union./mfi/red/mjm/DP/he