Germany, France still far from agreeing on CO2 rules
Even though we heard a report to the contrary just yesterday, government sources in France and Germany have told Thomson Financial that they are not about to reach a deal on CO2 emissions. As you might know, French automakers are not putting up as big a fight over low-CO2 emissions the way the dirty German automakers are. After all, it's Daimler, BMW, Porsche and Audi, after all, who have the most to lose should penalties of 20 euros per gram of CO2 over the 120 limit kick in in 2012 (it could climb to 95 euros in 2015)
The governments are fighting the proxy battle in the EU over changes to the emissions regulations being proposed by the European Commission. While Reuters said there was "progress" in the discussions, Thompson reports that German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and his French counterpart, Jean-Louis Borloo, cancelled a meeting to discuss the issue without rescheduling. Oh, and that compromise that might have been reached by the mid-June EU summit? That now looks unlikely.
[Source: Thompson Financial in Automotive News]
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/ANE02/225390385/1193/
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Karl-Uwe Strunzen 5:40AM (4/13/2008)
The German mafia has been quite successful so far in Bruxelles.
Even if a deal is struck now with the French, the national rules are being implemented across Europe (except Germany) and the trend seen is always the same: environmental measures are getting ever stronger, never weaker......
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