Brussels, my love? Is the future of the car electric?

Should the ban on combustion engine cars be delayed? The question we put to corporate lobbyist Connor Allen, Belgian climate activist Chloé Mikolajczak and Julius Fintelmann, the editor and founder of The European Correspondent.

With business growing global competition and high energy prices, the European car industry is in crisis mode. That is why the automotive industry wants the ban on the sale of combustion engine cars from 2035 to be delayed?

Connor Allen says the industry needs a cleaner 'runway'.

"Yes, we have competition from China, yes, we have some issues with Trump tariffs, but it's being squeezed by the regulation on one end and the consumer reality on the other," he said.

For Chloé Mikolajczak though, the phase out of combustion engine car is needed to address severe pollution.

"It's affecting people's health and especially children and elderly health. So if we don't also take that into the debate we're going to continue to have premature deaths, thousands every year across Europe and that's a massive problem," she said.

The panel also reflected on the Mario Draghi conference that took place in Brussels this week. The former European Central Bank president even proposed to pause parts of the AI act.

"That's also a scarecrow that industry likes to throw up to prevent further regulation," said Julius Fintelmann. "I think the AI Act is one example where the EU actually was ahead globally and set a standard and abandoning that to me seems premature."

Watch "Brussels, my love?" in the player above.