Poland to sue EU parliament over decision to ban fossil fuel cars by 2035

Poland is set to appeal against European Union rules seeking to end the sale of fossil fuel cars across the bloc from 2035. 

Anna Moskwa, Poland’s climate minister, said on Monday, that the country would appeal the EU’s combustion engine phaseout and other climate laws in an attempt to overturn them.

According to the United Nations, the transport sector is responsible for approximately one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions

The UN added that the sector’s emissions have more than doubled since 1970, with around 80 percent of the increase caused by road vehicles.

At COP26, over 100 national governments, cities, states and businesses (including the EU) signed the Glasgow declaration on zero-emission cars and vans to end the sale of internal combustion engines by 2035 in leading markets, and by 2040 worldwide.

In February, the European parliament formally approved a law to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the European Union from 2035, in a bid to speed up the transition to electric vehicles and combat climate change.

However, Moskwa said Poland does not agree with this ban and would take the matter to the European court of justice.

“We don’t agree with this and other documents from the ‘Fit for 55’ package and we’re bringing this to the European Court of Justice. I hope other countries will join. We will file the motion in the coming days,” she said during a radio programme.

“The solution of banning combustion cars in 2035 is harmful to all European economies … I believe that if today we are making a decision for 2035, then today it is necessary to look at its consequences for the following years.

“There is no analysis of the social and economic impact, which is scandalous. Anyway, we are going to the Court of Justice in the near future with this decision.”

The legislation, being opposed by Moskwa, is part of a set of bills – tagged the ‘Fit for 55 package’ – designed to cut the EU’s emissions by 55 percent this decade.

The fleet-wide target aims to reduce the carbon emissions produced by new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 100 percent compared to 2021.

The deal was the first of the ‘Fit for 55’ which was to show the commission’s seriousness about adopting concrete laws to reach the ambitious targets set out in the EU climate law.