EU official says car pollution targets unworkable: report

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

BERLIN (AFP) — A senior EU official said Sunday that a European Union deadline to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 2012 was unrealistic, according to an interview with a German newspaper.

Industry Commissioner Guenther Verheugen said that the proposals -- under which carmakers will be fined for failing to meet emission limits by the deadline -- were already likely to be delayed by the European Parliament.

"I fully support the Commission objective," said Verheugen, a commission vice-president, but "the European automobile industry will (only), in my opinion, be able to meet the target without great difficulty from 2015."

Brussels has proposed that all cars sold in Europe in 2012, whether European-made or not, should reach an overall objective of...