"We welcome the convergence of views between members which have big car industries but it's a discussion that takes place within the council, with all members," said commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told journalists.

"The process is still underway so at this point there is no question of changing the (commission's) proposals," he added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reached an unexpected deal on Monday at a summit southern Germany, breaking the deadlock over EU plans to limit car emissions.

Under European Commission proposals, automakers selling cars in Europe would have to cut carbon dioxide emissions to an average of 120 grams per kilometre travelled by 2012 from about 145-150 on average currently.

The German government had strongly opposed the EU plans as vehicles made by cornerstone German firms such as BMW, Daimler and Porsche tend to be larger, luxury vehicles with greater emissions.

France has been more enthusiastic about the proposals as leading French carmakers such as Peugeot and Renault tend to build smaller cars that pollute less.

While Merkel and Sarkozy agreed to support the overall 120-gram target, a commission spokeswoman for environmental issues said that "the details have to be studied."

Merkel said she had agreed with Sarkozy that the EU proposal would apply from 2012 to all new cars produced but stressed that it would only gradually be enforced with regard to existing models.

She added however that the German and French delegations were considering proposing to fellow European states that they should be more ambitious still and eventually aim to limit emissions to between 95 and 110 grammes per kilometre.

A commission source speaking on condition of anonymity said that the EU executive had some "reservations" about some of the compromise's points, especially regarding fines for carmakers that miss the target.

The Franco-German agreement also received a cool reaction from evironmentalists, who urged other EU member states to reject it.

"The car industry says jump and France and Germany say how high," Greenpeace transport campaigner said Franziska Achterberg. "With this deal Merkel and Sarkozy are on the autobahn to climate disaster."