A car too far

17 February 2007

The European Commission earned headlines last week for its announcement (February 7) that carmakers would have to make vehicle engines more fuel efficient, thus cutting carbon dioxide emissions, writes Stephen Gardner. It was all good news, said the Commission -- European manufacturers will develop world-beating new technology, and lower fuel costs will compensate the car-buying public for vehicle price hikes. The Commission made less of a fanfare, however, about the higher manufacturing costs that will result from the measures.  Unusually, no impact assessment was published with the proposals.  Commission spokesmen spent several days deflecting questions by saying a full impact assessment will be carried out in due course. This was disingenuous.  Eurocorrespondent has established that there have been not one, but two draft impact assessments, carried out by different Commission services: industry and environment.  These reached different conclusions; indeed the proposals were delayed for two weeks due to a quarrel between the commissioners involved, Günter Verheugen for industry and stubborn Greek Stavros Dimas for environment. Dimas's study -- which has "DRAFT Impact Assessment" plastered across the front but no official status -- found that the proposals could lead to job cuts and an acceleration in the shift of production out of the European Union, especially for manufacturers of small and medium cars.  The countries most affected by this will be Spain and the United Kingdom.  That the Commission is pushing ahead anyway shows how seriously climate change and the need to cut emissions are being taken. How the Commission will approach the thorny question of job cuts when it prepares the full impact assessment promised by the spokesmen remains to be seen.  In the meantime, the Commission refuses to release the draft studies.  As one official told Eurocorrespondent, "we can't release a document that doesn't exist officially." A version of this article originally appeared in Private Eye.

 

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