Today, Members of the European Parliament voted on the dieselgate inquiry Committee’s recommendations. The final report concludes that even though the EU Commission and member states have been aware for years that diesel car’s emissions in laboratory tests differ markedly from those measured on the roads, they failed to act probably in order to protect air quality as well as public health.
Co-Rapporteur and ALDE MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, who drafted the dieselgate-report together with Jens Gieseke (EPP), is happy about the outcome of today’s vote:
“Today’s vote is a positive step forward to prevent dieselgate from happening again. More than nineteen months after the Volkswagen scandal erupted, it is shocking to see how little has changed in the car industry and at the national authorities level. The German authorities are still failing to issue fines to Volkswagen and the Italian supervisor still lets Fiat off the hook. Now it is time to look forward. EU ministers must help restore trust in the European car industry and support stricter oversight, including independent European checks on vehicles.”
In order to prevent other scandals like dieselgate, the revision of the directive on type-approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles has been accelerated and was today approved in Plenary. The directive aims to harmonize type-approval procedures within the EU and wants to improve market surveillance of cars already in service. With these new rules, the EU gets increased oversight into the national authorities who are currently responsible for the approval of new cars entering the market.
ALDE MEP Dita Charanzová, Vice Chair of the Internal Market Committee, said:
“The EU cannot afford another dieselgate. Our automotive industry belongs among global leaders. In order to remain on top, it has to comply with an enhanced legislation framework. We need to provide robust control mechanisms to regain consumers trust. The Parliament´s proposal on type-approval of vehicles addresses shortcomings revealed by the inquiry Committee. But we also need to raise the issue of compensation for EU consumers – there is no reason why European and US consumers should be treated differently.”
