Germany and France give green light to EU car emission rules

The likelihood of tough new rules on car emissions being adopted across Europe increased significantly yesterday when the German and French governments announced they had reached an agreement to support the European Commission's proposals.

The Commission is set to introduce stringent new emission standards for car manufacturers that would require average emissions from their fleet not to exceed 120 grams of CO2 per km by 2012.

However, the new rules have been the subject of intensive lobbying from the car industry, and in particular German manufacturers that tend to make larger, heavier vehicles that would struggle to meet the new standards.

Consequently, the German government was thought to be luke warm on the proposals with a number of senior ministers expressing concerns about the legislation.

But speaking yesterday at the close of the Ninth Franco-German Ministerial Council, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the two countries had reached an agreement that would see them both support the Commission's proposals.

"Germany and France together support the European Commission in achieving its goal of limiting the harmful emissions caused by cars," she said, hailing the agreement as an "imortant breakthrough".

She added that in the long term, Germany and France would like to see even stricter limits introduced with a view to ensuring a maximum emissions level of between 95 and 110 grams per kilometre by 2020.

The summit also saw the two countries agree to co-operate "as closely as possible" during France's presidency of the EU in the second half of the year when French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to try and oversee the finalisation of the EU's wide ranging climate change package.