The European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament has called for urgent support measures for Europe’s automotive industry, warning that the crisis facing the sector is no longer a distant threat, but a reality already costing jobs, investment and industrial capacity.

During Tuesday morning’s debate in Strasbourg with Commission Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné on measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the automotive sector and safeguard quality jobs, ECR MEPs warned that Europe’s car industry is being weakened by high energy prices, excessive regulation, disrupted supply chains, unfair competition and an industrial policy that forces manufacturers and consumers down one single technological route.

ECR MEP and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Elena Donazzan, strongly criticised the Commission’s approach and warned of the social consequences already being felt across Europe.

“China has invaded our car market. We are witnessing job losses. The Commission itself has pointed out that we have already lost 200,000 jobs. One of Europe’s largest companies, Volkswagen, reports the reduction of a further 100,000 jobs, usually affecting men with families. This is the impoverishment of Europe, factory closures and the impoverishment of the entire supply chain,” Donazzan said.

She added that Europe must return to the principle of technological neutrality.

“We strongly demand technological neutrality. The market wants to be free, consumers are free, and we live in a free Europe. We need to ensure that technological neutrality also applies to fuels, and we must avoid penalising sectors such as trucks and heavy-duty transport by deluding ourselves that they can simply run on Chinese-made electric batteries,” she said.

ECR Coordinator in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Piotr Müller, warned that the automotive sector risks full collapse if the EU continues with unrealistic climate targets and the 2035 ban on new combustion engine cars.

“Listening to this discussion today, I am surprised by the idea that nothing can be done. Do you really think that climate targets of 90 per cent by 2040 are supposed to help the automotive industry? Do you really think that the 2035 registration ban on combustion cars is supposed to help the industry?” Müller said.

“I have the impression that many people here think everything is fine. You talk about public aid for plants, but I would prefer you to talk about abandoning the current high climate targets. You should talk about eliminating the ETS and eliminating the 2035 registration ban on combustion cars. This must be done, otherwise the European automotive industry will simply collapse,” he added.

Leader of the French ECR Delegation Marion Maréchal argued that EU policy has, in practice, become a support programme for Chinese competitors.

“From energy prices to labour costs, from the 2035 ban on internal combustion engines to unfair Chinese competition, left-wing and centrist politicians have methodically done everything possible to bring the European automotive industry to its knees. The latest victim is the iconic Stellantis plant in Poissy, which will no longer produce new cars from 2028 onwards, because your Green Deal has resulted in a veritable Buy China Act,” Maréchal said.

“In 2019, we had a trade surplus of 23 billion euros in the automotive sector. Today, we have a deficit of 6 billion euros, and yet there are still people in this Chamber who believe this policy is working,” Maréchal said.

ECR Deputy Coordinator in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Ondřej Krutílek, recalled that the ECR Group has consistently pushed for legislative changes to avoid further damage to European carmakers.

“It was the ECR Group that first pushed for the adoption of a resolution at a time when European car manufacturers were facing absurd fines. We also pushed to accelerate legislative changes aimed at lifting the ban on combustion engines after 2035 and establishing genuine technology neutrality. Not because of combustion engines as such, but mainly so that European rules can be better aligned with car manufacturers and, above all, so that car manufacturers can deliver to customers what they actually want,” Krutílek said.

He warned that the latest Commission proposals still risk opening Europe’s market further to Chinese electric vehicles.

“We are now trying to correct the latest Commission proposals, and the automotive part of the industrial accelerator is also problematic. Either we want to preserve our own production and traditional partnerships with reliable partners, or, under the banner of climate policy, we will fully open the gates to the invasion of Chinese electric cars,” Krutílek said.

Polish ECR MEP and Member of the Committee on the Environment Jacek Ozdoba underlined the central role of energy costs in the loss of European competitiveness.

“Why are Chinese cars cheaper? Because production costs are higher in Europe. If Chinese cars have modern technology, it is because production costs, especially energy costs, are simply lower. If we look at the United States, energy costs are also half as high, and fuel costs are lower,” Ozdoba said.

“One is almost tempted to say that some of the officials who came up with this policy should be checked to see whether they are not working for American or Chinese industry, because it is impossible to murder European industry in this way,” Ozdoba said.

For the ECR Group, protecting the automotive sector means protecting European jobs, industrial capacity, technological know-how and Europe’s future as an industrial continent. The Group called for lower energy costs, less bureaucracy, fair competition and genuine technology neutrality, including for e-fuels, hybrids and advanced combustion technologies.