<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to approve a ban on new sales of carbon-emitting petrol and diesel cars by 2035, clearing the final legislative hurdle.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">EU member states have already approved the legislation and will now formally nod it into law, despite opposition from conservative MEPs, the parliament's biggest group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Supporters of the bill had argued to that it would give European carmakers a clear timeframe in which switch production to zero-emission electric vehicles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This in turn will support the European Union's ambitious plan to become a "climate neutral" economy by 2050, with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Let me remind you that between last year and the end of this year China will bring 80 models of electric cars to the international market," EU vice president Frans Timmermans warned MEPs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"These are good cars. These are cars that will be more and more affordable, and we need to compete with that. We don't want to give up this essential industry to outsiders."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But opponents argued that industry is not ready for such a dramatic cut off in production of internal combustion engine vehicles -- and that hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our proposal is ... to let the market decide what technology is our best to reach our goals," said MEP Jens Gieseke, a member of the centre-right European People's Party.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gieseke declared that arguments from Green and socialist MEPs that electric cars are cheaper to run had been rendered "null and void" by the crisis of soaring energy costs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In Germany 600,000 people work on ICE production, those jobs are at risk," he declared, urging the European Commission to rethink plans to also extend the ban to trucks and buses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Opponents also argue car batteries are produced abroad by Europe's competitors like the United States, but Timmermans argued that thanks to EU-backed investment European production would increase.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The law passed the Strasbourg assembly by 340 votes to 279, with 21 abstentions. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>