The European Union has postponed a vote on a proposal that would further ease restrictions on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.
The European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament, is seeking to reduce the EU’s target for cutting carbon dioxide emissions from the automotive industry by 2035 to 80% below 2021 levels.
The current target calls for a 90% reduction. Before an agreement reached in December 2025, the target was a 100% reduction, which would effectively have meant ending sales of new cars powered by internal combustion engines.
According to Der Spiegel, a vote on the proposed changes in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee has been postponed.
Following the December 2025 agreement, the European Commission had indicated that a significant proportion of new vehicles sold in 2035 could still be equipped with internal combustion engines.
However, some EPP members are pushing for further concessions. Jens Gieseke, an EPP member of the Transport Committee, told Der Spiegel that the group wants the emissions-reduction target lowered to 80% compared with 2021 levels.
In practice, such a change would allow more vehicles with internal combustion engines to remain on European roads after 2035.
Supporters of the proposal argue that more climate-friendly fuels and materials could be developed by then, potentially allowing internal combustion engines to remain part of Europe’s transport mix while reducing emissions.
The proposed changes remain subject to the EU’s legislative process, with the postponed committee vote delaying the next step in the debate over the bloc’s future automotive emissions rules.
