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Environment ministers from the European Union’s 27-member states agreed to a range of measures to tackle climate change after lengthy discussions. After 16 hours of negotiations, policymakers agreed to phase out new fossil fuel car sales as of 2035.

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Ministers supported core parts of the package that the European Commission first proposed last summer, including a law requiring new cars sold in the EU to emit zero CO2 from 2035.

That would make it impossible to sell internal-combustion engine cars.

The deal makes it likely that the proposal will become EU law.

The outcome states: “The Council also agreed to introduce a 100 percent CO2 emissions reduction target by 2035 for new cars and vans.”

READ MORE: EU car ban: MEPs vote to ban all petrol and diesel car sales

European Union agrees to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035. (Image: Getty)

The UK is set to ban new petrol and diesel vehicle sales from 2030. (Image: Getty)

Lofty goals have been set by the European Union to reduce net emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels.

The European Union is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions.

Also in the agreement was a requirement to impose CO2 costs on polluting fuels used in transport and buildings, which should launch in 2027.

This included a €59billion (£50.8billion) fund to protect low-income citizens from the policy’s costs between 2027 and 2032.

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They argued they should meet an 80 percent CO2 cut by 2035 and 100 percent by 2040, rather than the 100 percent reduction in 2035 proposed by the European Commission.

One Bulgarian official, who did not want to be named, said climate policies need to take into account different economic and social factors between EU countries.

Germany has also been sceptical of the deal, with Finance Minister Christian Lindner saying that the Government would not agree to the plans.

He said there would continue to be niches for petrol and diesel cars, so a ban was wrong.

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The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Russia not to execute two British soldiers captured in Mariupol while fighting in the Ukrainian army.

Earlier this month, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic . They were falsely accused of being mercenaries when they were both fully enlisted in the Ukrainian military.

Russia “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the applicants was not carried out”, the ECHR said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the European court, the Britons joined the Ukrainian army in 2018. They had been deployed to Mariupol, where Ukrainian soldiers were defending the city as it came under intense bombardment from the Russians.

It went on to state that Russia must “ensure appropriate conditions of their detention and provide them with any necessary medical assistance and medication”.

However, the Russian parliament passed a law earlier this month that removed the country from the ECHR’s jurisdiction .

“Russia no longer complies with the prescriptions of the ECHR – that’s all there is to say,” said Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman. He added that “the fate of these mercenaries” would be decided by leaders in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Russian officials said the UK Government approached Moscow for help in freeing the Britons but was referred to the unrecognised leaders of the Donetsk People’s Republic, in eastern Ukraine.

“We are doing everything we can to support the men and are in close contact with and helping their families,” said a Foreign Office spokesman.

“We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of war for political purposes and have raised this with Russia. We are in constant contact with the government of Ukraine on their cases and are fully supportive of Ukraine in its efforts to get them released.”

European Union interpreters have gone on strike over work from home rules because poor audio quality and technical difficulties have made remotely translating MEPs speaking at hearings impossible.

The interpreters are angry that the European Parliament has adopted new rules on “hybrid conferences” after the Covid pandemic, the Politico Europe website reported.

They had warned that they would go on strike unless there was a review of rules allowing speakers to address hearings online.

There was further fury when the parliament outsourced interpretation to an external provider on Monday – the day the strike had been meant to start.

The International Association of Conference Interpreters told the parliament to “stop outsourcing” and demanded better working conditions for remote interpreters.

The EU institutions have 800 interpreters on permanent contracts and 3,200 freelancers who provide live translation of events. The European Commission provides interpretation for up to 50 meetings a day.

There are 24 official languages in the EU, and interpretation is routinely provided in at least some of them for committee hearings and press conferences, with all 24 covered at flagship events.

The pandemic made interpreters’ work extremely difficult. Rather than being able to view speakers in person, they were forced to use an app because many meetings were held virtually. The number of meetings – and, as a result, work for freelance interpreters – was dramatically cut.

It is not the first time interpreters have gone on strike. In 2018, they downed tools when the European Parliament moved to increase the maximum time spent in interpretation booths from six hours to eight.

Interpretation is vital in Brussels, but the job is demanding and stressful. In March, an interpreter broke down in tears while translating an emotional speech by Volodymyr Zelensky , the president of Ukraine, to the European Parliament.

Northern Ireland must impose an EU ban on flavoured heated tobacco products because of Protocol rules but the cigarette alternatives will still be available in the rest of the UK.

Smokers will be “discriminated against” and have fewer ways to quit traditional smoking because of the EU’s “gross overreaction”, it was warned.

Northern Ireland follows about 300 Single Market rules, including the EU Tobacco Products Directive, under the Brexit agreement to prevent a hard Irish border.

Heated tobacco products such as Phillip Morris’s IQOS and Ploom, which is owned by JTI, are less dangerous than cigarettes but, unlike vaping, which is safer, still use tobacco in their sticks.

Unlike cigarettes, flavours such as menthol are allowed in heated tobacco products , which can’t be advertised or sold to under 18’s in the UK.

The European Commission confirmed the ban will apply in Northern Ireland, as well as in EU member Ireland. The Government said it had no plans to outlaw the products in the rest of the UK.

It is estimated that the EU has adopted more than 4,000 measures changing rules in Northern Ireland since January 2021, when Brexit took legal effect.

Separate new EU rules for charging ports and cables mean Apple iPhone chargers will be banned in Northern Ireland but not in the rest of the UK.

London and Brussels are at loggerheads after the Government brought forward legislation to unilaterally rip up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“Consumers in Northern Ireland should not be discriminated against. If flavoured heated tobacco products are available in the rest of the UK, smokers in Northern Ireland must have that choice too,” Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said.

“Banning a product that is less harmful than traditional cigarettes would be madness and counter-productive as a public health measure,” he added.

Brussels said there was a 10 per cent rise in sales volumes of the products in half a dozen EU countries, which led to the announcement of the ban on Wednesday.

Use of heated tobacco in the UK is low and has not exceeded 0.5 per cent of adults in the country.

“By removing flavoured heated tobacco from the market we are taking yet another step towards realising our vision under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to create a ‘Tobacco Free Generation’,” EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said.

“There are no current plans to introduce a ban on the sale of flavoured heated tobacco,” a UK Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the Telegraph.

Brexiteers have argued that leaving the EU would allow the UK to adopt a more common sense approach to regulation than Brussels, which is seen as overly risk averse.

The EU ban will come into force if it is not opposed by EU governments and the European Parliament. Member states will have months to adapt their legislation to the change.

Brussels warns Northern Ireland’s lucrative access to the Single Market could be lost if the country stops following EU rules or the Government rips up the Protocol, which introduced border checks on British goods and animals to ensure they meet EU standards.

Britain has called for a dual regulatory regime to be introduced in Northern Ireland in negotiations to reduce the checks .

This would allow manufacturers to choose whether their products meet UK or EU standards but Brussels has ruled this out because of the risk of unchecked goods crossing into Ireland.

The DUP is refusing to enter power-sharing in Stormont after May 5 elections because of the Protocol, which the UK claims is undermining the Good Friday Agreement.

Most political parties in Northern Ireland support the Protocol, including Sinn Fein, which was the biggest party for the first time after the vote.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said the Protocol Bill was “very undemocratic and very disrespectful to people in Northern Ireland” and risked the break-up of the UK.

“We have a British government that doesn’t want to work hand in glove with the Irish Government, that is not even-handed in its dealings with the communities in Northern Ireland, and a government that wants to continue to have rows with the EU even though they’ve left,” he told the BBC on Thursday night.

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Factors that would be evaluated under the so-called social taxonomy would include whether companies pay fair wages, give regular training and provide childcare. Moreover, companies would also have to prove how beneficial they are to customers and to society as a whole. For example, companies who import products from abroad would have to prove they are paying workers in developing countries fair wages and housing companies would have to prove that they are building enough social housing. Whether the company is a good taxpayer and data protection will also play a key role in the categorisation. This means that companies selling tobacco or making landmines would automatically be listed as “bad companies”.

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The EU is already under fire for labelling some gas and nuclear investments as “green” and the move into social issues is likely to cause more conflict across the bloc.

The new plans have sparked fury across Europe, with Steffen Kampeter, general manager of the employers’ association BDA urging the EU to “hold back”.

He said: “The extension of the taxonomy to social issues is treacherous ice that the Commission should not step on.

“Reasonable social policy should be implemented at a national level; the EU should respect that and hold back.”

Both the mechanical engineering association VDMA and the European employers’ association Business Europe have already rejected the plans.

Why we left! Europe facing bureaucracy explosion as bloc plots new nightmare for companies (Image: Getty)

Companies will be categorised based on how fairly they pay staff and whether they pay tax (Image: Getty)

However, Reiner Hoffmann, chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) is supportive of the new plans.

He said: “The green taxonomy must definitely be supplemented by a social one.

“Tariff commitment and co-determination must play a central role.

“Only then can the EU taxonomy give private and public investors an environmentally and socially compatible orientation.”

The issue has also caused divisions in the European Parliament.

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MEP Markus Ferber (CSU) argued that the new classifications would not improve working conditions.

He said: “In Europe we have the highest social standards in the world. Socio-political questions should be solved through social policy and not through financial market regulation.

“New classification systems only create new reporting requirements and bureaucracy, but no improvement in working conditions.”

However, the Green Group and the Social Democratic S&D Group are in favour of social taxonomy.

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