The European Union is solidly committed to helping reduce greenhouse gasses in the fight against global warming.

Well, maybe not so solidly.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas recently suggested it might be a good idea for Germany to adopt a speed limit on its famous Autobahn highway system.

‘There are so many areas in which we waste energy in a completely senseless way and burden the climate’ the Associated Press reported Dimas as telling the German Bild am Sonntag newspaper. ‘A simple measure in Germany could be a general speed limit on highways. Speed limits make a lot of sense for many reasons and are completely normal in most EU states, as in the U.S.A. only in Germany, strangely, is it controversial.

Controversial is putting things mildly. But the source of the controversy is not what many of us would expect.

German government officials said the idea was trivial at best and a representative the countrys auto industry said that Germany needed no guidance from EU officials on how to protect the environment.

But the German people were more receptive. Some 60 percent said in a poll that they would favor speed limits on the Autobahn to reduce emissions while only 38 percent would be opposed.

The government and industry oppose speed limits but the public favors them? A strange response indeed a country that sports the unofficial but popular slogan, ‘free driving for free citizens.