German Transport Minister Volker Wissing and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans announced on Twitter on Saturday that the two sides had reached an agreement in the dispute over the ban on new cars powered by combustion engines.

Der Weg ist frei: Europa bleibt technologieneutral. Fahrzeuge mit Verbrennungsmotor können auch nach 2035 neu zugelassen werden, wenn sie ausschließlich CO2-neutrale Kraftstoffe tanken. 1|2

— Volker Wissing (@Wissing) March 25, 2023

The German Transport Minister said that the agreement was reached late on Friday evening, paving the way for the possibility of re-licensing vehicles with internal combustion engines that are limited to the use of climate-neutral fuels, even after 2035.

Wessing added, according to the German News Agency (DPA), that concrete procedural steps and a specific time plan have been set in a binding manner, “and we seek to complete the process by the fall of 2024.”

For his part, Timmermans wrote on Twitter: “We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuel in cars.”

He said that work will now be done to ensure that the decree on carbon dioxide standards for cars is ratified as soon as possible.