“Whose fault is the CO2 insanity of the EU?” - Bild Zeitung

Stricter EU CO2 limits for cars “threaten the German car industry with a total loss that nobody can repair”, Tom Drechsler writes in Germany’s largest tabloid Bild Zeitung. The article blames Austria, which currently holds the EU presidency and does not have a car industry of its own, as well as countries like Malta, Ireland and Luxembourg, which had pushed for even higher CO2 limits. Further blame is attributed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who didn’t fight the 37.5 percent limit, the “ignorance of the people” who didn’t realise that “only about 25 percent of European CO2 emissions are caused by traffic” and the German car industry, which has “put itself (dieselgate) on the sidelines and missed the boat on hybrid technology and e-mobility”. VW head Herbert Diess told the paper that the company would “obviously be able to reach the new EU target” but warned that mobility would become more expensive and that job cuts were looming in the car industry.

Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said yesterday that she welcomed the new emission limits, adding that they gave the industry a “clear framework and planning security to introduce new models into the markets”.