Brussels - Members of the European Parliament this evening voted to delay proposals to force carmakers to reduce the fuel consumption of new cars, despite overwhelming public support for more fuel efficient vehicles.
The Industry Committee of the European Parliament voting in Brussels bent to pressure from the car industry and opted to delay a target of 120g CO2/km - equivalent to reducing fuel consumption by a quarter - by three years, from 2012 until 2015.
Jeroen Verhoeven, car efficiency campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said; "The industry committee has voted for the car industry over people and the climate by supporting an opinion ridden with loopholes. But the vote wasn't overwhelming and it is now up to the environment committee to get the priorities right next week."
An opinion poll commissioned by Friends of the Earth Europe and published last week shows a large majority of citizens around Europe support measures to force carmakers reduce the fuel consumption of cars by 25 per cent without delay. [1]
Notes
[1] Click here for the full results of the opinion poll
