Brussels, 07/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is continuing to impose unjustified restrictions on access to the minutes of the motor vehicle technical committee, according to MEPs on the Volkswagen scandal commission of enquiry (EMIS). The MEPs drew up the balance sheet for the first phase of the committee's work on Thursday 7 July. This position is different to that adopted by the member states which is, paradoxically, more flexible.
Speaking on behalf of the Commission, the Cabinet for the Commissioner for Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, reiterated its position in a letter sent at the beginning of the week. MEPs will be able to access the minutes of the technical committee in a secure room once a confidentiality clause has been signed. This final demand, however, was dismissed by the President of the Commission of Enquiry, Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgium), who deemed it inappropriate because it involved documents that were certainly confidential but not classified (EUROPE 11585).
This has come as very much a surprise to the MEPs as well, given that the 28 member states notified the Commission of their agreement for these documents to be consulted in a secure room but not that a confidentiality clause would be necessary. It should be pointed out that the MEPs had requested access to these documents on 22 April. The Commission at the time initially wanted to consult member states before opening access to the minutes. The responses gradually came in and were put together over the course of a month, so that the EU 28 could give an agreement in June.
The blockage, however, does not come from the Cabinet of Bienkowska, as much as it does from an “upper” level, notably that of Vice President Jyrki Katainen, according to several different sources. (EUROPE 11585).
The Former Commissioner for Industry, Günter Verheugen, is persisting in his refusal to meet the Parliamentary committee, planned for 14 July. Recently, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called on the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to put pressure on the former Commissioner to come and give evidence at the hearing (EUROPE 11588). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)