Eco-driving, or eco-posturing?

Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament, is to get a hydrogen-powered BMW car to ‘test drive' from March. “Well, we beat them to it – ha,” said an official from the European Commission, apparently less concerned with being kind to the environment and more concerned about which EU institution is in the forefront of eco-posturing.
Last year, BMW lent one of its Hydrogen 7 limousines to the Commission's car-pool, allowing Günter Verheugen and Andris Piebalgs to go for low-emission drives around Brussels. Perhaps the order of precedence reflects BMW's priorities as it lobbies against Commission plans to penalise carmakers that do not reduce the emissions of their cars.
The Commission's proposal might be with the Parliament by the time Pöttering gets his car.
He will probably discover that, despite all these politicians on freebies, there is still a shortage of hydrogen refuelling points in Brussels.