Brussels, 13/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 12 January, the Swedish Prosecutor's Anti-Corruption Office began an investigation into “aggregated fraud” by Volkswagen, as part of the scandal involving invalidation mechanisms used in certain diesel engines in cars sold by the German group in Sweden between 2009-15.
Currently, around 10 member states Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Romania and Sweden, are carrying out investigations into the practices of the emblematic manufacturer, under the supervision of the European Commission's Common Research Centre (CRI). This body is in charge of facilitating technical exchanges between member states and providing technical directives to help obtain comparative results (see EUROPE 11411).
On 17 December last, MEPs voted for beginning a Parliamentary enquiry (see EUROPE 11456) as a means of casting light on the position taken by the former European Commission, which appears to have done nothing, despite the several different warnings given by automobile car part suppliers and member states (see EUROPE 11430). This commission consists of 45 members (and 45 alternates) and is expected to be decided during the next plenary session on 18-21 January. The exact date is expected to be decided during the Conference of Presidents.
One indirect aspect of the Volkswagen scandal involves the decision taken during committee proceedings on 28 October 2015, which set out a compliance factor of 2.1 (see EUROPE 11421) in the vehicle emissions testing in real driving emissions (RDE), which was rejected by the MEPs on 14 December last (see EUROPE 11454) during the environment and public health committee. This decision is expected to first take place in the January plenary but the vote is very likely to be postponed until the following plenary session in February, according to an explanation from one source. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)