Before the European elections, CSU head Markus Söder repeatedly criticized the planned end of combustion engines in the EU. “The end of combustion engines by 2035 is incorrect and should therefore be withdrawn,” Söder said in the newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” (BamS).

“Our car manufacturers are world leaders in the construction of combustion engines. Therefore, it is absolutely absurd to close a technology that works and leave it in the future in the hands of other countries.” Söder also criticized the elimination of the bonus for purchasing electric cars. “Instead of banning and cutting, we need to enable and encourage. “Therefore, the federal government must reintroduce the bonus for electric cars.”

Wissing (FDP) welcomes “late awakener” Markus Söder (CSU)

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing welcomed the call to reverse the ban on combustion engines at EU level. “Even those who get up later are welcome to support technological neutrality in the regulation of the automobile industry,” said the FDP politician on Sunday afternoon on ARD's “Report from Berlin” program.

At the same time, he also criticized the line of the CSU leader: “If Mr. Söder had supported me more in recent months, including the Union at the European level, which provides the President of the Commission, we could have progressed faster.

Söder wanted to ban combustion engines as early as 2020

The Bavarian Prime Minister was a long-time supporter of the ban on internal combustion engines. In the newspaper Spiegel in 2007, as general secretary of the CSU, he even spoke out in favor of a ban in Germany from 2020 (“Green engines create new jobs”). At that time he advocated that combustion engines be replaced by hydrogen and hybrid engines. technology.

Söder now knows that the majority of citizens agree: according to a survey by the opinion research institute Insa commissioned by BamS, 61 percent are against the ban on combustion engines in newly registered vehicles. from 2035, while 24 percent are in favor of it.

From 2035, new cars will no longer be able to emit carbon dioxide

A year ago, the EU States and the European Parliament sealed the end of new cars with diesel and gasoline engines. Specifically, starting in 2035, new cars will no longer be able to emit carbon dioxide, which is produced when these fuels are burned.

Exceptions are being considered for so-called e-fuels, which do not pollute the atmosphere with additional CO2.