Emissions: supercredits out of favour, Germany wants long transition

Yesterday, the Environment Council discussed CO2 emissions from cars. The press release of the meeting says:

CO2 emissions from cars
The Council examined the final compromise text of a draft regulation amending regulation
443/2099 to define the modalities for reaching the 2020 target to reduce CO2 emissions from new passenger cars. The text was negotiated in informal trilogues with the European Parliament last June.
The Council confirmed its willingness to reach, at the earliest opportunity, a first reading agreement with the European Parliament on this file, and maintain a high level of ambition.
The Council agreed to support the presidency in seeking, together with the Commission, further
contacts with the European Parliament in order to explore the possibility of finding some limited
flexibility, while maintaining the overall balance of the compromise agreed in June and reach a
solution satisfactory to all.
The Commission presented its proposal in July 2012 (12733/12).

Which seems to mean that the Germans have kicked the issue into some longish grass: the 95g/km limit would not be fully operational until 2024 under the new proposals. Although this is a legal topic, it has has little to do with law, and everything to do with political horse-trading, at which the European Union and its predecessors have always excelled. Germany wants to protect its car industry, which on average produces cars that emit rather more carbon dioxide than most (especially when driven at Autobahn speeds, but that isn't up for discussion in this forum). The rest of the EU supposedly kept quiet over the summer, to avoid rocking the boat and interfering with the German general election, although presumably there are plenty of governments in EU countries which would be pleased to have seen someone other than Mrs Merkel win. France took an opportunity to remind the Germans of the importance of respect for Union legislation, banning sales of Mercedes cars with illegal refrigerant in their air-conditioning systems, as I reported at some length at the time (and that did have an interesting legal dimension).

So has everything changed after the election result? Not a bit of it. Now it seems that Britain (and Poland) are supporting Germany in its efforts to push back the lower emissions limits - reportedly because the British government wants German support against French proposals to cap bankers' bonuses. At least, they appear to be prepared to help Germany delay matters. The German government now proposes a solution that relies not on 'supercredits', which is what it has argued for (and secured agreement on) in the past, but on delaying the introduction of the lower limits. Exactly the uncertainty that the European motor industry does not want. And the delay could be considerable, as dumping the supercredits approach means restarting negotiations with the Parliament - this could go on for ever!