Brussels, 23/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Volkswagen scandal and its global repercussions have provoked a lot of heated emotion and anger among the MEPs at the European Parliament's Environment Committee. This has reached such a point that a debate with the European Commission was included at the last minute on the Parliamentary meeting agenda for Wednesday 23 September in Brussels.
In a room that was full to capacity, MEPs urged the European Commission to do all it could as swiftly as possible to shed light on the exact scale of this scandal. They were all concerned that the rigged anti-pollutant tests by tampered software were not confined to a single manufacturer, Volkswagen, in the US and not just to diesel engines.
The majority of MEPs called for the swift introduction in the EU of new pollutant emissions testing methods in real conditions.
Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Belgium) asserted that they should ensure that “the tests carried out in real conditions are immediately introduced without the compliance control demanded by industry”. In the same perspective, Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden) called on the “EPP to change its opinion” on this point and stop “crying crocodile tears” with regard to the Volkswagen affair.
Many MPs on the right underlined the fact that the Volkswagen fraud highlighted poor controls in the EU that stemmed from the vehicle approval system in force. Many of them, including president of the Parliamentary committee, Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy), asked whether they would be able to set up a European Controls Authority to guarantee emissions limit values imposed by EU legislation were respected. In this respect, the superiority of the US system was mentioned, an affirmation that in the opinion of the European Commission should be qualified somewhat.
During the debate, MEPs were unanimous in describing this scandal involving a global automobile giant as extremely serious in many different respects. They believe that the falsification is even more regrettable because air pollution threatens human health and misleads consumers. They also say that this scandal discredits the German car industry, indeed the automobile sector as a whole and that it is regrettable that Europe did not detect anything earlier and that it was necessary for the alarm to be sounded by the Americans. The Volkswagen affair has undermined the EU's credibility and weakened its negotiating position in the TTIP talks. Some MEPs asked how the EU would be able to provide an example on environmental issues and claim to maintain its standards if it is not respecting them itself, while Françoise Grossetête (EPP, France) and Anneli Jäätteenmäki (ALDE, Finland) expressed alarm at the difficulties that will occur in similar conditions when attempting to defend European industry.
The representative from the European Commission (Directorate General Growth) provided assurances to MEPs that the Commission was “very concerned” and determined to shed light on this affair so that they are able to evaluate the repercussions. In order to do this, it is establishing contact with the US authorities, the authority responsible for the system type approval for this German kind of vehicle, Volkswagen, and will organise a meeting with the national authorities responsible for approving this kind of vehicle.
The Commission is also cooperating with France, Germany and Italy, which have launched their own investigations. This investigation may exclusively focus on health protection, explained Jorn Dohrmann (ECR, Denmark), who also pointed out that France and Italy were car manufacturing countries.
According to the Commission, “the problem focuses on NOx and not CO2 emissions”, which several MEPs had doubts about. They believe that it was “too early to say whether Volkswagen cars in Europe have been affected” by this fraud and whether it is necessary to adopt market monitoring measures. They provided assurances that the Commission would have the information “in a few days” when the technical authorities have verified local level compliance and at the automobile manufacturers have provided all the information.
The system type approval aims to guarantee that cars respect emission standards and it is a decentralised system. It was pointed out that “It is the member states that carry out the controls”.
Laboratory tests obviously do not reflect real emissions. This explains the second RDE package that the Commission presented, in an effort to ensure that cars put on the market do indeed respect very exact limits. The MEPs debated this at length on 3 September (see EUROPE 11394). She pointed out that “nonetheless, it is the member states that have to ensure that the approval of this kind of vehicle is done so in compliance with the requirements”. She also indicated that the Commission was currently working to improve market monitoring and pointed out that there should be a cautious approach with regard to the superiority of the US system and the supposed inefficiency of the European system. She stated that “the systems are different and cannot be compared. In the US, the manufacturers are responsible for certification. In Europe, it is the system type approval authority that is responsible. The tests in the US are also carried out in laboratories. US limits are not stricter. We are trying to develop tests in a realistic situation as soon as possible. The Commission intends to test the vehicles with the Joint Research Centre. These tests are independent and the JRC will adopt the rules that we will propose”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)