BERLIN/WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - German Transport Minister Volker Wissing and industry representatives have warned the EU Commission against overly strict new emissions rules with possible consequences for hundreds of thousands of jobs. "Regulation must promote mobility, not prevent it," Wissing told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin on Monday.

Systematic shortages due to new specifications endanger the ramp-up of e-mobility, but increasingly also jobs, he said. "If vehicles become more and more expensive without more environmental protection associated with them, mobility becomes a luxury good," the FDP politician said. "We need participation in the area through individual mobility - also in the future."

Car manufacturers and associations had already repeatedly stated that the introduction of the necessary technology to comply with stricter limits on nitrogen oxide emissions would be too demanding in terms of time and would likely make models more expensive - especially smaller cars in relation to the overall price. Environmental organizations, on the other hand, are calling for an end to diesel and gasoline engines as soon as possible.

The Commission presented its proposals in November. There are fears that many jobs could disappear in the event of a corresponding drop in demand for combustion engines. VW stressed, "We share the assessment that Euro 7 in its current form would have negative employment effects for the European automotive industry."

According to the Brussels-based authority, road traffic is the biggest source of air pollution in cities. The new standard aims to ensure cleaner vehicles and better air quality to protect citizens' health and the environment. Euro 7 aims to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from cars by 35 percent by 2035, and by more than 50 percent for buses and trucks. NOx compounds were also at the center of the emissions scandal, which resulted in several cities imposing partial diesel driving bans.

"When the automotive industry warns that regulation makes vehicles unnecessarily more expensive and hinders the acceleration of e-mobility, this should be taken very seriously," Wissing said. "The EU Commission cannot on the one hand demand high climate protection targets and on the other hand prevent their achievement through regulation." He added that the internal combustion engine can also combine climate protection and mobility with synthetic fuels: "Europe must not prevent this technological solution."

The Greens and FDP had argued fiercely about the future of so-called e-fuels in their coalition negotiations. Critics believe that such fuels delay a decisive phase-out of combustion technology. Proponents, on the other hand, point to the potential of using them to continue operating the existing stock of combustion vehicles in a less climate-damaging way for some time to come. Compared with normal gasoline, diesel or LPG, the production of e-fuels is said to have a significantly lower impact on the raw materials cycle and does not release any new CO2 that was previously bound in the long term.

The automotive states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony had called on the German government not to accept the current plans for Euro 7. They fear considerable disadvantages for the industry in the event of implementation, according to a letter from the state premiers to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), which was made available to dpa. The directive is to apply to newly registered vehicles from July 2025. The European Parliament and EU states must approve the proposals, and negotiations are underway. In theory, the Commission's concept can still be changed.

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid) criticized the letter from the car countries, rejecting the claim that technology development is too expensive and not worthwhile in view of the planned phase-out of internal combustion engines in 2035 as "factually incorrect and speciously argued." The three government leaders were "lobbying for BMW, Mercedes and VW at the expense of citizens who suffer from exhaust fumes that are harmful to health," said DUH head Jürgen Resch.

Greenpeace demanded that automakers help zero-emission powertrains achieve a breakthrough in the coming years. "If Wissing wants to ensure long-term job security in the industry, he should do everything he can to put the German auto industry at the forefront of the mobility revolution," said transport expert Benjamin Stephan. "More ambitious emissions standards will help with this."

In an open letter to EU leaders, the chairman of the European auto industry association Acea, Renault CEO Luca de Meo, had cited an expected cost increase for vehicles due to Euro 7 of between seven and ten percent. Accordingly, up to 300,000 jobs could be at stake. The German industry association VDA and supplier companies also expressed strong reservations about the plan.

Volkswagen also spoke of "completely unrealistic time targets" - manufacturers and authorities could hardly implement them as quickly as required. The planned stringency of the standards would tie up "large personnel and financial resources that we could use more sensibly and in a future-oriented manner for electrification." The price estimates cited by de Meo are accurate.

The auto industry also complains that the criteria for emissions tests under the new requirements are too specific. "Air quality is not helped if we make the exhaust emissions of a new combustion engine at full throttle and horse trailer in first gear on a mountain pass in the Alps the measure of all things," VW said. Real-life use usually looks different - while the required exhaust technology is likely to make "especially inexpensive small cars considerably more expensive."

The ADAC also sees it this way. "Additional technical requirements and a lack of legal foundations" could make the production of smaller cars "disproportionately more expensive," estimates the automobile club. And the conditions used as a basis in new emissions tests contain driving situations "that are hardly relevant in practice."

A BMW spokesman told the trade journal "Automobilwoche": "Euro 7 should primarily regulate pollutants and not be instrumentalized for an earlier end to the combustion engine. This would make the product range unnecessarily more expensive." Some experts also emphasize that overly ambitious cleaning technology is particularly weighty for small cars and anticipate a more "elitist" mobility in the future./hoe/DP/ngu