BERLIN – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed on a joint approach to loosening the combustion engine phase-out and to "Made in Europe" for cars, both governments announced in a joint statement.
"Our course remains unchanged: We are striving for a significant reduction of CO2 emissions while at the same time strengthening Europe's capacities for developing and manufacturing the next generation of electric vehicles," the statement reads.
The two governments want to "work swiftly with their European partners toward an agreement." The package combines "an ambitious European decarbonization path with the necessary regulatory flexibility to account for differing market conditions and technological openness."
With this, Berlin and Paris have reached agreement on the joint paper (here) that POLITICO has already reported on.
However, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider had initially stalled the agreement with a letter to Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday. In it, the SPD minister demanded more conditions attached to green steel, several people involved told POLITICO. On Friday morning, there were talks among the SPD ministers about how to proceed. Following those talks, Schneider finally dropped his resistance. Sources in the Environment Ministry said that the procurement of green and recycled steel could also be regulated at the national level.
"To me …
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