MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Job losses in the German automotive industry – Commission countermeasures – E-001251/2025

Question for written answer  E-001251/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Anja Arndt (ESN)

According to a study by audit firm EY, the German automotive and supplier industry shed 19 000 jobs in 2024, meaning that the sector now employs only 761 000 people in Germany – its lowest figure since 2013. Audi intends to cut 7 500 posts in the next few years, and ZF Friedrichshafen 14 000.

• 1.Does the Commission acknowledge that these horrendous statistics are primarily the result of anti-industry EU legislation based on the Paris Agreement and the Green Deal, i.e., of, first, the factually incorrect and misleading statement in Regulation (EU) 2019/631 that electric vehicles are ‘zero emission’ vehicles, while manufacturers of combustion engine vehicles face penalties, and, second, of the actual ban in Regulation (EU) 2023/851 on fitting new vehicles with combustion engines?
• 2.What would the Commission say to changing tack in EU legislation in order to stem the demise of a key industrial sector in Germany and the rest of Europe (which is benefiting the competition in Asia and the United States), thus preventing further deindustrialisation and the associated loss of prosperity?

Submitted: 26.3.2025