Europe’s complete shift to electric vehicles is already going terribly, marred in particular by rising costs and poor planning.
So, of course, Brussels wants to implement the change even faster.
Plans—first reported in Bild and later expanded upon by Bloomberg—are being drawn up by the European Commission that would prohibit car-rental firms from buying non-electric vehicles from 2030. That’s five years earlier than the bloc’s wider net zero target for phasing out combustion vehicle sales.
europeanconservative.com contributor Pieter Cleppe summed up the potential measure as the Commission “doubling down on its failed 2035 electric vehicle mandate.”
Reports have even stirred frustrations among pro-Brussels figures. Ralph Kamphöner, who is head of a German trade association’s Brussels office and presents the European Union (and Ukrainian) flag alongside his name on Twitter/X, said after reading about the plans: “One could really start to think that [Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen wants to make the otherwise good EU project unpopular with citizens by force.”
Also in Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the proposals “completely miss the point of the current joint needs we have in Europe.” He stressed that “Europe is not open enough, not fast enough, not dynamic enough” to cope with this all-out transition within the automotive industry, which is especially important to Germany.
We must not allow it to be destroyed by focussing on technologies that might not be market-ready enough by a given date for one to rely exclusively on that single technology. That’s why we oppose such rigid specifications.
Bild said the move would impact 60% of the new car-rental businesses. It added that an EU source confirmed work was underway on new regulations but did not provide further details.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
