Heavy parts of Europe's automotive industry have long pressed to get away from the billion fines that manufacturers have been threatened with this year, if they do not manage to get enough emission-free cars on the market.
Now, the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is meeting them halfway – at least partially.
The rules will remain, so as not to unfairly affect the manufacturers who have done their part. But the others will still get more time.
Instead of achieving the goals annually, companies will get three years to do so. The goals remain. They must meet the requirements, but it gives more breathing room to the industry, says von der Leyen at a press conference in Brussels.
At the same time, she promises to investigate direct EU support to European battery manufacturers – something that has been called for, among others, from the Swedish side due to the crisis surrounding Northvolt.
The Commission's base also wants to see an "industrial alliance" to share knowledge about self-driving cars.
The goal is very simple: we must get self-driving cars on Europe's roads faster, says von der Leyen in Brussels.
