Germany, France Agree Phased-In Car Emissions Limit
Date: 10-Jun-08
Country: GERMANY
Calling the agreement an "important breakthrough", Merkel said on Monday at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that they jointly supported a Commission goal to limit EU car emissions to 120 grams per km on average from 2012.
Berlin and Paris have been trying to reach a compromise on burden-sharing on carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions for months.
Germany has been concerned that planned EU rules will put its luxury automobile industry at a disadvantage.
"We're calling for a substantial phasing in period," she said. "In 2012 when new cars will have reached 120 grams that does not mean that all the cars have already achieved the 120 gram average.
"That means we need a phasing-in period for the renewal of the entire product range of the car industry," she added.
"There were very, very large differences at the start due to the different product range. I'm happy to say that we support the Commission goal of 120 grams per km from 2012," Merkel said.
"Secondly, we're in favour of there being long-term goals," she said. "We've mentioned a framework of 95 to 110 grams per km. We can't say definitively at this point what's feasible from a technical point of view."
Merkel said the German-French agreement goes beyond the European Commission's proposal.
"We're going well beyond the Commission's proposal," she said. "That's important. There will be a so-called phasing in for fleets. Fleets of cars will be viewed in their entirety. The details of that will be worked out by the environment ministers."
(Reporting by Markus Wacket)