The Euro 7 It is a regulation proposed by the European Union with the objective of regulating the emissions of motor vehicles. It is intended to establish limits on polluting emissions from automobiles, reduce air pollution and improve air quality. In 2025, when it enters into force, it will lower the limits for pollutant emissions: nitrogen oxides (NOx), fine particles, carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants related to motor vehicles.
Approved in December last year, its implementation involves significant changes in the industrysince it forces manufacturers to adapt their vehicles and propulsion systems to meet the new standards.
The two paradoxes of Euro 7
Last Monday, May 5, eight european countriesled by Italy, signed A text in which they express their opposition to Euro 7. In it they affirm that the new standard proposed by the European Commission runs the risk of “hindering manufacturers’ investments in electric vehicles”.
The fact that Euro 7 imposes new regulations on exhaust gases from internal combustion vehicles forces European manufacturers to focus and invest in this goal. A first paradox, since they will have to divert funds that could be dedicated to electrification, which means losing ground to US and Asian competitors and delaying their development.
On the other hand, the ACEA (European Association of Automobile Manufacturers) calculates that it will be necessary to invest €1,862 per vehicle to comply with the standard, 10 times more than what the European Union had calculated.
An amount that, passed on to buyers, will prevent them from acquiring a new (electric) vehicle and will force them to maintain the old, increasingly polluting. A second paradox for a standard that could, also in the case of users, achieve the opposite effect for which it was created.
eight countries against
Among the signatories of the aforementioned letter are Italy, France, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. Surprising the absence of Germany, considered by far the first European automobile power. However, the Teutonic country has made it known that the Euro 7 standard represents “a risk for its companies”. Without even going into the content of the text, Germany considers the proposed deadline of 2025 untenable.
Although the agreement between the MEPs and the Member States of the EU to prohibit the sale of new vehicles equipped with a combustion engine in 2035 is unanimous, the same is not the case with this regulation, which has been the reason for multiple discrepancies during its development. and it has never achieved the agreement of all countries.
The eight governments that oppose the text say that they “are hostile to any new regulations on exhaust gases for cars and light commercial vehicles (including new obligations on test conditions or new emission limits).”
Adolfo Urso, Italian Minister of Economic Development, has been delighted that “many countries are joining Italy to oppose Brussels on this text” that can cause many problems for a European industry that employs almost 13 million people.
On the other hand, ecologists believe that the Euro standard 7 doesn’t go far enough to meet the targets for reducing gas emissions. They even accuse the Commission of giving in to automobile lobbying. To achieve a new regulation, the members of the Union must adopt a common position, before presenting a text to the European Parliament.
