Amendments tabled by The Left group would tighten the conditions attached to the EU’s proposed car CO₂ framework, adding requirements on investment, labour protection and transparency to the Commission’s draft rules.
While the Commission proposal already allows manufacturers to use a three-year compliance period for CO₂ targets between 2025 and 2027, The Left wants to make that flexibility conditional on clearer and more binding commitments.
Carmakers choosing the multi-year compliance option would have to submit a binding transition plan to the Commission, setting out concrete annual investments in zero-emission vehicle technologies over the 2025–2027 period. The intention is to ensure that regulatory flexibility is paired with verifiable progress on electrification rather than simply easing compliance pressure.
The amendments also introduce a labour safeguard. Companies using the three-year compliance period would be required to present workforce protection plans guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies among production workers directly affected by the shift to zero-emission vehicles. It reflects The Left’s broader effort to link industrial transition policy more directly with job security.
On enforcement, the group proposes a tougher approach to penalties. Under their amendment, excess emissions payments over the three-year period could not fall below the level that would have been charged under annual compliance for each year individually. In other words, flexibility would not be allowed to reduce the overall financial burden.
A further proposal would direct at least 25 % of excess emissions revenues into a dedicated Just Transition Fund. The money would go towards retraining programmes and income support for workers in the automotive sector affected by the shift to electric mobility.
The group also pushes for greater transparency in how manufacturers cooperate. Pooling agreements would have to be published on a publicly accessible Commission platform within 30 days, allowing citizens and civil society to see how companies are sharing or offsetting emissions performance.
Taken together, the amendments leave the EU’s core CO₂ targets untouched, but significantly tighten the conditions around flexibility mechanisms, with a stronger emphasis on labour protection, accountability and public oversight of the transition.
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