European Taxpayers’ Association (TAE): No backdoor ban on combustion engines – what is the European Commission up to now?
According to leaked media reports, the European Commission is planning a major intervention in the European car market. From 2030, car hire companies and large businesses will apparently only be allowed to purchase electric vehicles. The European Commission is expected to present a concrete proposal on this by autumn at the latest.
If this proves to be the case, it would amount to a creeping ban on combustion engines. Experts estimate that 60 per cent of the new car market would be affected by such a ban, with 40 per cent of that figure accounted for by private buyers. What has become of the technological openness announced by the European Commission? According to Michael Jaeger, President of the European Taxpayers’ Association, this is in danger of being forgotten.
This proposal is completely divorced from reality and appears to have been designed on the drawing board as if by magic. For there are neither enough charging stations across Europe nor enough affordable electric vehicles. The ones to suffer would be citizens and businesses, whose fundamental right to individual mobility would be massively restricted.
Apparently, no impact assessment has been carried out; otherwise, such an idea would never have been considered in the first place! We call on the European Commission to halt this project, says the taxpayers’ organisation!
Brussels/Munich, 20 July 2025