Automotive News Europe — 2024-07-18
Automotive Industry
Von der Leyen also said that the EU will make a targeted amendment to car policy to allow e-fuels.
The European Union's 2035 target to end CO2-emitting car sales stays, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after her re-election.
Von der Leyen added that the EU will make a targeted amendment to car policy to allow e-fuels.
Von der Leyen won a second five-year term as president of the EU’s arm, marking a vote for stability at a time when several key European leaders are facing significant political challenges back home.
The European Parliament voted on 18 July 2024 in a secret ballot to approve her renomination as European Commission president with 401 in favor, clearing the threshold of 360 that she needed.
She won the backing of green lawmakers, who had opposed her first term, while the 24 lawmakers in Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing party voted against her, according to people briefed on the vote who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters.
Over the next five years, the bloc will fight over its ambitious climate goals and how to implement them, even as it faces the threat of a tit-for-tat trade clash with China and the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House, which could undermine efforts by Ukraine’s allies to support its fight against Russia.
Before the vote, she pledged to maintain the EU’s climate ambitions, bolster competitiveness and strengthen defense industries. Von der Leyen said she would launch a “Clean Industrial Deal” in her first 100 days to boost European manufacturing while promising that the next commission would prepare the way for a 90% emissions reduction by 2040.
Von der Leyen, 65, a former German defense minister, will find fresh challenges in her second term, after her first was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine and an energy crisis.