FILE PHOTO – A PSA Group logo is seen behind a car displayed during French carmaker’s news conference as they announce the company’s 2018 results at their headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, France, February 26, 2019. REUTERS\/Christian Hartmann<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n PARIS (Reuters) – The EU\u2019s plans to slash carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles and push carmakers to go electric will threaten 13 million jobs in Europe\u2019s auto industry and benefit Asia, the head of French carmaker PSA told Le Figaro. <\/p>\n The European Parliament and EU countries struck an agreement in December to cut emissions from cars by 37.5 percent by 2030, compared with 2021, and by 31 percent from vans. <\/p>\n \u201cThis jeopardizes the jobs of 13 million people in the industry and could destabilize some of our European societies,\u201d PSA\u2019s CEO Carlos Tavares, who also heads the European Automobile Manufacturers\u2019 Association (ACEA), said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper published on Sunday. <\/p>\n Tavares welcomed Franco-German plans to boost Europe\u2019s electric car battery industry and to reduce EU carmakers\u2019 reliance on Asian rivals by building two new battery factories. <\/p>\n However, he said that big players like Bosch have studied the project and considered it was not profitable. He said PSA had also looked into it, but the initial capital costs were huge and localizing the battery industry may be difficult within current European Union regulatory constraints. <\/p>\n \u201cIf European carmakers do not sell enough electric vehicles by 2020, 2025 and 2030, they will be ruined by fines. This forces us to reserve significant volumes of batteries with Asian suppliers, who are awaiting us with a big smile,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Tavares said that when he arrived at PSA in 2013, the Chinese market was seen as the company\u2019s last hope, but in fact the carmaker now does 80 percent of its sales in Europe. <\/p>\n China is a very difficult market for PSA, Tavares said, adding that the company is struggling to understand the market, client expectations and the way of thinking of its state-owned partners. <\/p>\n \u201cThe decision mechanisms in our joint ventures are intolerably slow,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Susan Fenton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n