Spain's Sánchez criticises plans to water down ban on new petrol, diesel cars as 'historic mistake'
in Madrid
Meanwhile, Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has criticised EU plans to water down its 2035 ban on the sale of new petrol or diesel cars, describing them as a “historic mistake” that risks threatening competitiveness and undermining efforts to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency.
Under current legislation, manufacturers were obliged to ensure that 100% of production of cars and vans had zero emissions from 2035.
The European Commission has now proposed reducing this to 90%, enabling the continued manufacture of a portion of plug-in hybrid electric cars, or even combustion engines beyond 2035.
Speaking in Madrid on Wednesday to promote his proposed state pact to address the climate emergency, Sánchez hit out at the plans, saying:
“What was approved in the European parliament yesterday was a historic error for Europe because competitiveness … is guaranteed by sustainability and not by weakening our climate commitments and our support for sustainability.”
He added: “Climate is the board on which all the other games are played. There’s no progress, no growth and no health of the climate becomes a risk factor.”
Spain is one of the European countries on the frontline of the climate emergency, having suffered deadly floods last year as well as summer after summer of wildfires.
Measures in the pact include funds to prepare for, and rebuild after, climate-related disasters, improvements to firefighting capacity, a plan to increase water resilience in the face of floods and droughts, and initiatives to fight rural depopulation and thus help keep the land clear of combustible material.
Sánchez said the raft of initiatives – which will be put before parliament – was designed to act as “a shield for Spain” and to protect its people and its economy.
“The climate emergency won’t wait,” he said. “[And] history will not forgive a lack of action. What’s in play here is the future of this who will come next. Let’s do it together before it’s too late.”
Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!
Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lashed out at European leaders, deriding them as “little pigs”, and said Russia would achieve its territorial goals in Ukraine either through diplomacy or by military force (14:10) in highly contentious comments a day before the European leaders meet in Brussels to decide on the use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine (18:39).
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged European allies to show their support to Kyiv and send a clear signal to Moscow that continuing its war is “pointless,” telling them “it is for Europe to make this choice” (18:06). He will attend the Brussels summit in person (18:55).
Germany’s Friedrich Merz said he would continue to push for a decision to be made on the frozen assets saying the pressure on Putin must be increased even further in order to persuade him to engage in serious negotiations (16:11, 16:16).
But Belgium, Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic are in a group of countries that remain unconvinced about the idea, fearing backlash from Russia (10:00, 12:37, 14:52, 15:07).
Belgian politicians and senior finance executives have been subject to a campaign of intimidation orchestrated by Russian intelligence aimed at persuading the country to block the use of €185bn assets for Ukraine, according to European intelligence agencies (18:47).
The UK has told Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to hand over £2.5bn from his sale of Chelsea FC to humanitarian causes in Ukraine, telling the billionaire to commit the funds or face court action (13:25).
Meanwhile, the UK has struck a deal with the EU to rejoin Erasmus+ from 2027, a move hailed by EU and UK universities as a “significant step” in post-Brexit reset of relations (10:39, 10:44, 11:02, 11:09, 11:22, 12:14, 16:42).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Back tomorrow for the European Council action!
