Germany and France agree to ease EU ban on combustion engines after 2035

Germany and France have reached an agreement to soften the European Union's planned ban on internal combustion engine and hybrid cars after 2035. The deal was announced by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the margins of an EU summit in Brussels.

Under the compromise, new petrol and hybrid vehicles could continue to be sold after 2035 without facing penalties. The two governments said the transition to clean mobility should be supported by investment, innovation and production in France, Germany and across Europe, and that jobs must be preserved.

“Thus the ban on internal combustion engines will now be a thing of the past.”

The original EU framework, agreed in 2022, required new cars sold from 2035 to produce no carbon dioxide emissions during use, effectively banning new petrol and diesel cars. Manufacturers that failed to comply faced financial penalties.

France and six other EU states had previously warned in June that weakening the ban would be a strategic mistake and said they had enough voting power in the EU Council to block any softening. France's change of position has now shifted the balance.

The German-French agreement goes further than a European Commission proposal from December 2025, which had called for a 90 percent emissions cut by 2035 with the remaining 10 percent to be covered by offset mechanisms such as sustainable fuels. Berlin and Paris are now asking for that offset obligation to be dropped entirely.

The joint proposal still needs majority support from EU member state leaders in the European Council, and the European Parliament is also involved in the process.