BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The state requirement for the purchase of electric cars is to expire "in the near future". A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said this on Thursday when asked by the German Press Agency. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had said on Wednesday that the incentive would end earlier than previously planned.

On Wednesday, the leaders of the traffic light coalition had reached an agreement in principle on how to plug the billion-euro holes in the 2024 budget. Following a budget ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, the federal government must also make cuts to the Climate and Transformation Fund, which is also used to finance the demand for e-cars. According to the ministry, the previous plan was for the e-car requirement to expire at the end of 2024 - or earlier if the funds are used up.

The President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, Hildegard Müller, criticized on Wednesday that allowing the so-called environmental bonus to expire earlier was a wrong decision. This would lead to uncertainty, dampen the expansion of e-mobility and thus jeopardize the goal of the coalition agreement to bring around 15 million electric cars onto the market by 2030./hoe/DP/mis