Ban combustion-engine vehicles in the EU in 2035: Who decided and with what right?

@ElentirENG ES 1·11·2023 · 11:38 0

For years, the citizens of member countries of the European Union have seen a series of prohibitions fall upon us without knowing where they come from.

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A decision made with its back to the citizens in 2022

One of the most controversial was announced on October 28, 2022: the ban on buying combustion vehicles from 2035. The European Parliament website stated that day that this legislative chamber, the only body of the European Union elected by direct vote of the citizens, had supported that proposal from the European Commission a few months earlier, in June. That claim did not link to any source to back it up. The day before, the German newspaper Deutsche Welle pointed out how it was actually adopted that deal:

"The negotiators of the European Council (the Member States of the European Union), the European Parliament and the European Commission reached this Thursday (27.10.2022) an agreement to prohibit the sale of new cars and vans with combustion engines from 2035, the first part of a package that seeks to fully decarbonise the Union by 2050."

This was confirmed by a note from the European Council that same day, stating that it is a "provisional political agreement", that is, it is pending ratification.

This way of approving such important decisions for all EU citizens without their opinion, without any debate and in excessively bureaucratized institutions, very distant from the people affected and with hardly any response capacity, should lead us to reflect on what kind of "democracy" is being built in the EU outside of the governed.

The negative consequences that this will have for the standard of living of Europeans

Keep in mind that this ban threats an automobile sector that only in Spain employs more than half a million people, among manufacturers of automobiles and their components, as well as dealers and businesses dedicated to repair. In addition, this political decision by the EU bureaucrats could leave many Europeans without cars, by making your price considerably more expensive, since electric cars are more expensive than combustion ones. In addition, the increase in the cost of energy threatens the future of the electric car.

What will that entail? Well, there will be many fewer individuals and small businesses that can afford a car, and furthermore, the increase in their costs will be transferred to the price of many products. In the current circumstances, and without the industry having achieved a satisfactory solution to the current shortcomings of electric cars, banning combustion cars will imply more poverty and a higher cost of living for Europeans. Of course, we will be poorer but more ecological, so that our ecological politicians can feel satisfied, while China emits more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the entire EU together.

Communist China will be the big beneficiary: were there also bribes from Beijing?

To this we must add an even more alarming piece of information for this type of vehicle: in two years, the lithium needed to manufacture its batteries has increased its price by 900% and, furthermore, although Australia is the world's leading producer of lithium, communist China controls 60% of the world's lithium refining. It so happens that, with their current plans, the EU will need 18 times more lithium in 2030 and almost 60 times more in 2050, which will increase its economic dependence on that mega-dictatorship.

We will also see this entire process while the rest of the world continues to use combustion vehicles normally, starting with China, taking advantage of the advantage of their lower cost. What the EU has agreed to, turning its back on its citizens, is environmental nonsense that will impoverish Europeans and put them at an even greater disadvantage compared to China. The fact that this communist dictatorship benefits so much from an agreement reached without consulting European citizens should encourage us to think if we will see something similar to Qatar and Morocco bribery scandal that is splashing the European institutions, but with bribes coming from China. It would not be something strange in institutions where lobbies move more influence than the opinion of citizens.

What right do they make such a serious decision without consulting us?

Regarding the decision-making process in the EU, it is worth asking: by what right do the bureaucrats in Brussels make decisions that affect us so seriously without ever consulting us? In a democracy as consolidated as Switzerland they have the healthy custom of convening consultations with citizens for the most varied issues, so that they can express their opinion on issues that were not addressed in the electoral campaigns. However, the leadership of the EU is not even considering calling a referendum on this issue, perhaps for fear of losing it and being disavowed, not only regarding the decision itself, but also the normal process that the EU follows for decision-making.

When a common European market was proposed to us years ago, in order to benefit from better conditions for trade between European countries, many of us did not imagine that we would end up subjected to a giant bureaucratic and who makes such harmful decisions without asking us, threatening to worsen our living conditions without even considering the possibility that something like this should be directly consulted with those affected by a binding referendum in each country and with the possibility that, in the event of disagreement, a country could distance itself, since Europe is not a federal nation: it is an international organization made up of sovereign nations that have the right to self-govern, without any would-be Emperor Palpatine can concentrate enough power to decide our lives from Brussels behind our backs.

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Photo: Alex Suprun.