After months of debate and compromise, a proposed law to cap auto emissions by 2020 was punted at the last minute by European lawmakers last week.

It was widely reported that the surprise turnabout came after lobbying from German chancellor Angela Merkel, looking to protect German luxury brands like BMW. The Guardian newspaper also reported British Prime Minister David Cameron supported Merkel's efforts, even though his own transportation officials and lawmakers had backed the emissions cap.

Sources told media outlets that Merkel called outgoing Council President and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny on the eve of the council meeting, and that the issue was subsequently withdrawn from the council agenda and effectively postponed. The law's fate will now be guided by Lithuania, which took over the rotating council presidency on July 1.

The proposal called for limiting emissions from passenger vehicles to 95 grams of CO 2 per km by the year 2020. European Parliament and member states had already agreed to the plan. The council vote was expected to be little more than a formality.

Automakers including BMW and Daimler had opposed the proposal, saying the emissions cap would unfairly target their products. According to figures from the International Council on Clean Transportation, emissions from German-made cars are 15 g/km higher than the median for all of the European Union. Merkel had also said the measure would cost jobs.

Merkel's “brazen” actions were condemned by MEP Matthias Groote of Germany, who is head of the European Parliament's environmental committee. Groote was reported in the Guardian as saying Merkel's last-minute lobbying caused chaos.

“Merkel's unilateral attempt to try and stop the care CO2 deal is undemocratic and unwelcome,” Groote said.

Critics say the move was an attempt by Merkel to stall the deal until Germany can gather enough votes to block it permanently.

Germany recently pitched a proposal to allow so-called super-credits for low carbon cars to be banked until 2023, but critics said that would just extend the compliance deadline and member states rejected the idea. The industry group European Automobile Manufacturers Association had backed the idea of using credits, and argued that the emissions cap would harm the competitiveness of European automakers.

US auto manufacturer Ford Motor Co. criticized the council's failure to act on the emissions cap.

“As a company committed to meaningful CO2 emission reductions through advanced technology, Ford is disappointed. We will now have to regroup within the industry to determine the next steps,” the company was quoted as saying in Automotive News Europe.

Also blasting the backtracking was Monique Goyens, director general of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).

“It's consumers who will pay the price for this last-minute scuppering of the deal on car CO2 emissions,” Goyens said in a statement. “Consumers have been let down by the Council bowing to tremendous pressure from Germany. Shelving this today risks a scaling back of ambitions for an eventual agreement on CO2 limits. This last-minute intervention at the highest political level is a clear case of the concerns of a handful of companies taking precedence over consumers' interests.”

Already on the books is a cap of 130 grams of CO2 per km, which takes effect in 2015. However, that benchmark is not expected to be difficult for automakers to achieve.

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