Govt ‘protecting car industry’ with backing for EURO7 regulations

The National Competitiveness Council has backed a compromise regarding vehicle emissions and battery life known as EURO7, the economic development ministry said on Monday.

Seven EU member states — Czechia, Slovakia, France, Italy, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria — proposed a compromise on a European Council plan to tighten EURO6 rules which would have hamstrung the car industry, the ministry said in a statement, noting that Hungary’s government opposed a large part of the planned changes looming over tens of thousands of Hungarian jobs.

The proposal for a compromise solution was aimed at preserving the competitiveness of the vehicle industry, and several regulations will remain unchanged, while a grace period for the application of new rules has been agreed on until 2026 at the earliest, it added.

“Hungary supports climate policy aims but all this must be achieved in a way that the measures underpinning them are effective and proportionate,” Gergely Fábian, the state secretary for industrial policy and technology, said in the statement.

Fábian said the government had protected the interests of Germany’s car industry in Hungary, unlike the German government which had maintained a different stance in the debate.

The compromise proposal would advance reaching emission targets and reducing emissions without jeopardising industrial and economic output, the statement said, adding that overly strict rules would also have hindered the green transition.

Source: MTI