MEP Gyöngyösi: Common sense wins, internal combustion engines to stay in EU

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MEP Márton Gyöngyösi’s (Non-attached) thoughts via press release:

The right to free travel, free movement and freely choosing your residence is a basic human right that forms a foundation of any democratic society. It also happens to be a right that was key to the rise of Europe. There is no welfare society that would not respect the right to free movement.

While a hobby for some, driving is the only way for millions of Europeans to commute, meet their loved ones and organize their daily lives. In Hungary, where rural public transport has been withering away for years to the point where many small villages can only be reached by public transport with great difficulty, if at all, driving is vitally important.

Consequently, driving is a very important social issue as well. 

The price and conditions for getting a reliable and preferably comfortable personal transport vehicle is a key factor in people’s economic security and quality of life. No wonder that even the re-establishing Communist regime quickly restored the right to own a car soon after the 1956 Revolution as one of its first “pacifying” measures.

The European Union completely ignored the importance of this issue when it decided to ban the registration of new vehicles with internal combustion engines in the EU’s territory after 2035. The decision would have meant that if you were to buy a new vehicle, your only option would have been an electric one in just 13 years.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against e-mobility at all, in fact, I am always looking forward to the latest updates in electric car technology. 

On the other hand, it is also a fact that the buying price of an electric car is roughly double that of an internal combustion car with the same size, while its usability, although constantly improving, is still quite limited, because the network of charging stations is still underdeveloped, with Central Europe unfortunately lagging behind in this area as well. On top of that, charging an electric car takes longer than filling the gas tank, while even the high-end luxury e-cars can only cover, at best, as much distance with one charge as a small gas-powered car.

I am convinced that e-cars have a future, but if you consider how it took roughly 60 years for internal combustion engines to get from the first car to the vehicles that did not require higher-than-average technical aptitude to handle, you can realize it would be unfair to expect e-cars to become able to cross continents in just a couple of years.

Especially, if their manufacturers are under no competitive pressure whatsoever to develop their technology.

That’s why I was so happy about last weekend’s agreement that the production of vehicles with internal combustion engines may continue after 2035, as long as these automobiles are powered by climate-neutral fuel. I believe this is an adequate compromise, which still allows people to choose from different options while also urging e-car manufacturers to keep adjusting the prices and ranges of their vehicles to those of internal combustion automobiles.

As opposed to social engineers and the avid supporters of green utopian ideologies, I, as a centre-right conservative politician believe that even the most necessary changes must not be implemented in a hasty, unthoughtful way. Yes, humanity must minimize pollutant emissions, but it must not come at the price of undermining people’s lives by forcing a technology that is hardly affordable for even the middle class in Western Europe… Not to mention Hungary, Poland or Bulgaria, for that matter!

I think this agreement is an important guarantee that equally serves the interest of the people, technological advancement and, ultimately, e-mobility as well.

Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.