Overview
- Spain, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden issued a joint document on June 8 calling for the EU to keep current car and van CO2 targets and oppose broad new flexibilities.
- The seven governments said any extra compliance margin for manufacturers must be strictly limited and tied to concrete industrial and environmental commitments that speed vehicle decarbonisation.
- They cited European Commission data showing plug‑in hybrids emit about 3.5 times more CO2 in real driving than in lab tests to argue against relying on hybrids to meet targets.
- The group urged stronger implementation support, including faster roll‑out of public charging, demand incentives and rules to improve access to electric vehicles through the second‑hand market.
- Signatories backed building a European EV supply chain and green‑steel links and warned that expanding renewable fuels in car rules could weaken electrification and create new import dependencies.