Overview
- The minister‑presidents of Baden‑Württemberg, Bavaria and Lower Saxony sent a five‑page 'Brandbrief' to Brussels and Berlin on Friday demanding urgent action to avert what they called "sustainable and possibly irreversible" damage to the car industry.
- The letter asks the EU to relax fleet CO2 rules, recognise cars running on renewable fuels as zero‑emission, lower the 2035 CO2 target to about 90 percent and abandon a blanket ban on combustion engines.
- The states want stronger protection from subsidised imports, including extending anti‑subsidy measures to hybrids and pushing 'Made with Europe' local‑content rules while coordinating cross‑border support to build a European battery champion.
- They call for measures to cut energy and charging costs by lowering electricity taxes and network charges, expanding public fast‑charging, and extending e‑car purchase incentives to used electric vehicles.
- The appeal unites Green, CSU and SPD leaders and follows warnings that roughly 52,000 jobs were lost in the sector last year; the three states and regional taskforces are sending follow‑up papers while Brussels and Berlin have yet to respond.