Brussels has increased the pressure on German car giant Volkswagen (VW) to cooperate and compensate affected Europe, while preparing to demand direct supervisory powers and penalties to prevent further fraud.
The European Commissioner for Industry and Internal Market, Elzbieta Bienkowska, today moved this message to Matthias Müller, the CEO who took over VW after a scandal over the manipulation discovered pollutant emissions in the United States, after passing unnoticed in Europe, and that seems to affect other manufacturers.
Mueller went to Brussels amid speculation about his future following a complex visit to the United States, where he met with rejection of the Californian authorities plan to remedy the trick and demand through the Department of Justice, claiming to VW over 40,000 million.
In the European capital, Bienkowska Müller insisted that VW should cooperate and deliver the data being collected in its internal investigations into the software installed on about 11 million cars, which They allowed to circumvent the official tests of nitrogen oxide emissions.
Similarly, Brussels expects to receive data on the analysis of the distortion of the carbon dioxide (CO2) also detected in some 800,000 vehicles, for which the German automotive asked to give him a month later, which expires at the end of January.
The European Commission (EC) also warned Mueller that Volkswagen should reconsider its decision not to extend to European customers announced compensation for Americans.
The Volkswagen scandal has not only damaged the image of one of the emblems of German economic power, but has also exposed the weakness of European control systems currently in hands of the countries themselves.
In this situation, “there should be greater and more effective supervision of the activities related to the approval of approvals (vehicle) by the national authorities and technical services” defends Bienkowska, in a letter to which Efe had access today.
Therefore, as he announced in late November, the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete to Efe, the Commission plans to present “soon” proposals in this regard , as confirmed Bienkowska in his letter to German MEP Pieter Liese, dated January 15.
The EU executive wants “investigative powers and the right to suspend, restrict or withdraw the designation of technical services who are doing wrong and impose fines” and a “right” to “impose sanctions on manufacturers that fail to comply.”
The idea is also “subject to technical services to regular audits as a condition for obtaining and maintaining its designation, and submit to the competent national authorities to evaluations by peers,” explains the police station.
The Commission also wants to ensure the “independence of technical services” to prohibit what he asks “are paid directly by the manufacturers”.
At the same time, today the European Parliament set up a special commission to investigate the scandal emissions Volkswagen, which will work on the case for a year.
The European Parliament is the scene of another key in the battle against emissions: the implementation of a new emission controls releasing cars, more accurate in measuring what really it contaminated when a car is on the road.
Although a priori the policy change toughen controls on manufacturers, the wide margin agreed by the Commission and the countries has aroused much controversy.
Specifically, the new test would apply from 2017, but initially the cars could exceed 110% set emission limits without an infringement is considered.
The Greens group leading efforts to achieve the absolute majority needed in full to veto the proposal of the countries and the Commission, so that the ball would fall on this institution.
For its part, the Socialists and the conservative European People’s Party have managed to delay the vote scheduled for plenary ended today in Strasbourg (northeastern France) until the next session, the first week of February.
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