Italy is planning to submit a proposal to the European Commission to speed up by a year a review of the union’s plans to ban the sale of ICE vehicles from 2035.
Reuters reported that industry minister Adolfo Urso said on Monday Italy’s proposal would be discussed by its national delegation of EU lawmakers, before being officially put to a meeting of EU industry ministers.
Urso told a meeting of business associations and trade unions: “We believe it’s absolutely necessary to modify the direction of EU industrial policy. The automotive sector is the one where a change from the Green Deal is most required.”
EU governments approved a law in 2023 requiring all new cars to have zero emissions from 2035.
Last week, Giorgia Meloni called the planned phase-out of internal combustion cars a “self-destructive” decision. She said it was causing too much damage to Europe’s auto industry. Last week, we reported that Christophe Pillot, director of consulting firm Avicenne, said it may be possible the European targets will not be met and the EU may need to change them. He said the EU target for ending the sale of new ICE cars by 2035 is unrealistic.
The EU measures were intended to speed up EV roll-out, but several automakers have recently started to scale down their EV production plans due to weakening demand.
Photo: Adolfo Urso, Italy’s industry minister, pushing to defer EU’s ICE ban.
