Article · Money and markets
Paris and Berlin agree to soften the EU's 2035 ban on combustion-engine cars. Their official statement contains not a single number
On 16 October 2026 France and Germany published a joint statement on the future of the European car industry. According to Reuters and a document seen by Spiegel, they propose that carmakers cut the average CO2 emissions of new cars by 90 percent from 2021 levels by 2035, without offsetting the remaining 10 percent. Current EU law requires 100 percent; in December 2025 the Commission proposed 90 percent, but with the rest offset through EU-made low-carbon steel or e-fuels and biofuels. None of these figures appear in the statement published by the Élysée. This is a position of two countries, not EU law: other member states and the European Parliament still have to agree.
According to Reuters and Spiegel (via electrive), France and Germany agreed that after 2035 a tenth of new-car emissions could go uncompensated; the official statement does not contain that figure. In the same document, single source, Reuters, they ask that the formula used to count plug-in hybrid emissions stay unchanged until 2030, even though Commission data show these cars emit on average 3.5 times more CO2 on the road than in the lab.
This is about which cars Europe will still be allowed to sell after 2035, from Madrid to Warsaw, and who pays for the difference.