German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized plans, according to the German newspaper Bild, that the European Union is working on prohibiting car-rental firms and large corporations from buying non-electric vehicles for their fleets starting in 2030.

The European plan is still a proposal and draws inspiration from Belgian regulations that stipulate that by 2026, all new cars purchased or used professionally must be fully electric.

The scheme aims to have as many pure electric cars as possible, taking advantage of tax deduction benefits. It has resulted in a high percentage of electric vehicles in the professional car market. Even now, more than four-fifths of all cars registered professionally are already pure electric.

The European Commission was impressed by the results in Belgium and proposes to roll out a similar scheme for the whole of Europe, with the end date of being obliged to go EV not being 2026 but 2030.

Not happy

Chancellor Merz, who has been contacted by big leasing/rental companies like Sixt or Europcar, communicated at the beginning of this week to the press that he disagreed: “The proposals announced over the weekend regarding rental car fleets and electrification completely ignore the needs we have in Europe right now,” Merz said.

“These are not the proposals that are right,” he said after a meeting with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. “Rather, we want to remain technologically open.”

Last week, Merz rejected a budget proposal from the EU Commission. This became apparent when the chancellor’s spokesman released a statement rejecting the European Commission’s proposal to expand its budget to €2 trillion only hours after von der Leyen announced the plan in Brussels. Germany, as the EU’s most significant contributor, would be on the hook for about a quarter of that spending.

The chancellor was particularly displeased with a move to levy corporate taxes, which contradicted a recent promise he had made to German companies to lower their taxes.

While Merz and von der Leyen both come from the same party, they have never had a close relationship. During her political career in Berlin, von der Leyen served in several cabinets of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, a long-time enemy of Merz’s.

“My criticism of the EU is not personal, but rather objectively based,” Merz said a few days ago. The German car industry has a direct line to Germany’s highest political circles. Regarding electrification, they have an ambiguous attitude. They missed the ‘electric train’ a few times, then overreacted by promising ‘all electric’ shortly, and now they are turning tail again.

Appeasing Commission

A spokesman for the European Commission told Bloomberg News that it hasn’t adopted the proposal, and no political decisions have been taken. The proposal was submitted to the Commission in the context of a dialogue with car manufacturers, and the Commission has only committed to carrying out an “impact assessment,” the spokesman said.

And, as always, an eventual proposal by the Commission will have to pass several hurdles, such as approval by the European Parliament and consensus among the EU member states, before it becomes a reality. To be continued.