Am german, never heard of this motherefucker.
He was supposed to become the head of the commission but von der Leyen took over.
In September 2018, Weber declared his intention to run for the position of President of the European Commission and was elected as the Spitzenkandidat of the EPP in November. On 26 May 2019 Weber’s European People’s Party won the most seats in the European Parliament, thus making Weber the lead candidate to become the next President of the European Commission. It was announced on 28 May that the new European Commission President would be picked at an EU summit in June; Weber was not nominated, with Ursula von der Leyen selected instead.
This is so wild. Bios from conservatives like him always read like this is at least a mostly evil person. It baffles me, who people like him or von der Leyen can come to power. That says much about us as a species.
The thing is that he is not that powerful because he had to make way for von der Leyen.
We are not talking about him because he just fulfills his role. But we also don’t talk about who is setting the agenda for his role. That makes me worried about us as a species, and many more.
Destroying the ecological systems and the weather patterns is madness. If there is a net benefit to it we should know in a democracy.
He’s a CSU politician and the EVP group chairman in the European parliamanet. Sadly he is, what the headline describes as ‘powerful’.
There’s no combustion engine ban. To quote another comment in this post:
People will still be able to drive their beloved petrol burner after 2035, they just won’t be able to buy new ones. Emphasis on new because people will also still be able to buy used cars.
Heck, even that is partly misleading because the regulation only says that cars must not produce harmful exhaust. So if tomorrow some Egghead comes up with a petrol engine that doesn’t spout CO2 and other nasty things, it would be perfectly legal.
This is the same type of kneejerk rhetoric that far-right populists all over the world have been employing for a long time.
Freaking corrupt, incompetent servant of the all-powerfull German car-industry. German car industry that has been milking the ICEs for decades, refusing to invest in electric, just because they could (because they are in essence running the goverment in germany and EU).
Now, with china rightfully taking over EV sales in the EU they are crying out louder than ever that jobs will be lost in Germany. If any jobs eventually do get scraped, it will be due to their own decisions and inaction.
I say, since these companies and their shareholders enjoyed their profits, let them bite the consequences. Let them get out of business and do let some European people lose their jobs. This can be a great learning opportunity for europeans, a grand lecture on the wonderful results of unhinged and extreme freaking capitalism.
China isn’t even taking over BEV sales in the EU, German manufacturers (especially Volkswagen) are the clear leaders. They make up three of the top four for new BEV registrations in the EU for this year up to April, and third place is Skoda which is still part of the VW Group. The Germa manufacturers absolutely do have the market and for some reason are still mad about it
For some reasons they hadn’t been selling electric cars since the 70ies, like any other car manufacturer.
For people needing a car to drive to work, it would have been possible to sell electric cars since then.
The petrol industry must have had the influence to prevent the switch and they still have some.
As a German I feel I have to apologize to you for bringing this backwards politics upon all of us. Stupid petrol heads. :(
Your apology isn’t accepted until you stop the far-right nazis from taking over your country
AGAIN!
Fair.
“Powerful”…??
Yeah, was my first thought too. It could be that they wanted to convey in a headline-friendly way that he is not some communal politican from the backwoods. “EPP Chief and German Politician …” would have been better imo.
I’d actually rather they make electric vehicles more attractive than just ban combustion engines. People are moving over anyway, it’d be better if people were excited about changing instead of bitter.
Except combustion engines aren’t being banned. That’s just the usual framing to incite people. People will still be able to drive their beloved petrol burner after 2035, they just won’t be able to buy new ones. Emphasis on new because people will also still be able to buy used cars.
Heck, even that is partly misleading because the regulation only says that cars must not produce harmful exhaust. So if tomorrow some Egghead comes up with a petrol engine that doesn’t spout CO2 and other nasty things, it would be perfectly legal.
In my opinion the most crucial part is a public charging infrastructure. Yet, I have not seen big news about a huge EU initiative to foster the development of one.
Charging infrastructure is mostly OK here in Germany. There should be better regulation on pricing which is pretty wild west right now. But basically, it’s not really an issue. The main problem with EV adoption is the constant stream of pro fossil fuel propaganda which permeates pretty much all media. And then if course fuckers like this that are shilling for the fossil fuel industry. Electricification and renewable energy are not some woke fantasy, they’re a question of the survival of civilization as we know it. Anyone who actively works against that is an enemy of humanity.
Infrastructure on the Autobahn is pretty good but there are still huge blind spots in cities and especially towns, making adoption for anyone without a house and wallbox a challenge. I’m lucky so far to have found apartments with a charging spot nearby but had to filter out many otherwise great looking ones because of missing infrastructure. And yes even small towns have apartments for rent, but they almost always lack charging spots.
I wouldn’t buy new combustion engine cars anyway because of restrictive measures taking against fixing and modifying (for example you can’t install hook sockets without changing the programing). Electric vehicles aren’t any better. Everything is shitified.
Just produce reasonably priced, usable and maintainable electric vehicles please.
German nazi says “it’ll be like the 40’s all over again”.
The problem is that other Germans should’ve beat him to death by now.
