France and Germany yesterday buried a disagreement over future European Union targets for car emissions, which had threatened a clash between the two partners just three weeks before Paris is to take over the EU's rotating presidency. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy used a regular French-German cabinet meeting in Straubing, southern Germany, to announce the agreement on the measure - part of the EU's plan to cut CO 2 emissions by 20 per cent at least by 2020. Success in the talks between the two countries, Europe's largest carmakers, was seen as necessary for a wider agreement in the 27-member bloc. "We have achieved a breakthrough," said Ms Merkel. The chancellor's advisors had feared Mr Sarkozy would use France's EU presidency to push through rules that would penalise German car manufacturers, whose models are more powerful and polluting than those of French competitors. Berlin had insisted all models of cars should contribute equally to the European Commission's proposed goal of cutting CO 2 emissions to 120g per km by 2012. It had said an early version of the proposal put a disproportionate burden on German carmakers. Car emissions in Europe stand at 160 grams per km on average. By comparison, Porsche's Cayenne model emits 358 grams of CO 2 per km and Daimler's C200 CDI Blue Efficiency model, marketed as environmentally friendly, 133g per km. In a joint statement, the two governments said they supported the Commission's goals but called for the final directive to include a "substantial phasing-in" to take into consideration the technological capacities of the car industry. The compromise, which states that the emission target should be an average figure for a manufacturer's entire fleet, should buy German carmakers time to invest in less-polluting technologies as they add new models to their fleet. The governments said in a statement that carmakers should be allowed to deviate marginally from the emission target. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008