“Dieselgate” infringement procedures: European Commission finally wakes up - Main contents

The ALDE Group in the European Parliament welcomes that the Commission launched today infringement procedures against seven Member States (the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom) on the grounds that they disregarded EU vehicle type approval rules. Nevertheless, Liberals and Democrats regret the fact that action wasn’t taken years ago. The European Parliament Dieselgate Inquiry Committee found indications that already in 2012 the Commission had evidence of suspicious emission strategies in diesel vehicles, on which the Commission apparently did not act.

ALDE Co-Rapporteur of the Dieselgate inquiry committee, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (D66, The Netherlands), commented today:

“The European Commission is finally waking up after the dieselgate scandal. It's good that those Member States which are keeping their car industry off the hook are now on the spot. It is high time to protect European consumers, fine illegal actions and start mandatory recalls of highly polluting vehicles.”