Compromise closer on car pollution controls

Date: 12/06/1997

ENVIRONMENT ministers are inching towards agreement on the European Commission's proposals to reduce pollution from cars, after officials showed a new willingness to be flexible at a key meeting last week.

Compromise at next week's ministerial meeting has moved closer after the Commission said it could accept stricter limits on the benzene and sulphur content of petrol. But EU governments remain split between those anxious to minimise the costs of new legislation and those pushing for the 'greenest' possible standards.

The Commission has said it is willing to sanction a maximum benzene content in petrol of 1&percent; by 2000 and to cut the sulphur content to less than the 200 parts per million it originally proposed.

This will go a long way towards satisfying the demands of a group of countries including the Nordics, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

Their cause has been aided by support from Italy, which already applies the low benzene limit.

A large group of southern member states is concerned at the potential cost to its refineries of even tighter fuel standards. By way of an olive branch, they have been offered a new clause which would allow them to apply looser standards temporarily if they could prove that changes in their crude oil supplies made it difficult to respect the new rules.

In another proposed derogation, some leeway would be allowed for countries to take five years longer than the turn-of-the-century deadline originally proposed for phasing out leaded petrol, if economic circumstances justified an extension.

The chances of a deal have also been improved by the Commission's willingness to accept indicative targets for both car emissions and fuel standards for 2005. Its original plans set no long-term targets for fuel quality.

Officials stress it will be easier to apply the tightest sulphur standards initially to petrol engines only, as the necessary technology for diesel will come on stream more slowly. “Sulphur is a very controversial area. The southern member states are looking at potentially huge costs,” said an official.

Some doubt still surrounds the attitude of the new French and UK governments. The UK's Labour administration is likely to pursue a similar line to its predecessor. But while France's new Environment Minister Dominique Voynet is a Green with a radical reputation, this is expected to make little practical difference. “They may have a Green minister, but they also have Renault,” commented one official.

Considerable haggling is still going on over the fuel standards, and a group of experts will meet in parallel to sort out any technical questions the talks throw up.

Ministers are, however, likely to have fewer problems with the proposals on emission standards for cars. “The Dutch are looking at a compromise largely in line with the Commission's original proposal,” said an official.

This is likely to bring EU governments into confrontation with MEPs, who voted to tighten the Commission's plans significantly after their first reading in April. Nobody expects a final agreement without conciliation talks between the two institutions.

Meanwhile, both the car and oil industry lobbies are hoping to limit the damage caused by any changes which may be made to the 'Auto-Oil' proposals.

Oil industry group Europia claims that most of the amendments will prove very expensive without bringing significant improvements in air quality.

Carmakers' lobby ACEA is content to live with the Commission's plans, but stresses the industry needs clarity over future fuel standards.