Priority

New revelations about VW cheating must force Commission to act

Four years of Dieselgate

According to the German broadcaster SWR, Volkswagen continued to cheat on emissions tests using defeat devices in diesel engines under Euronorm6 after the diesel scandal came to light in 2015. The revelations were published before Chancellor Angela Merkel opens the International Motor Show in Frankfurt.

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How did the car industry manage to undermine EU pollution limits?

The dangers of technocratic decision-making on public health and the environment

Despite an EU law limiting the amount of pollution that cars could emit, the car industry - together with complicit EU governments - managed not only to delay the implementation of the rules, but to insert massive loopholes that essentially rendered the new pollution limits meaningless. How this happened is a scandal that is yet to be fixed.

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Parliament calls on the Commission to act for citizens health

Dieselgate

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on recent developments concerning the Dieselgate scandal. Internal Market Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska recently announced that the European Commission has brought an action countering the judgment of the European Court of Justice that annulled pollution permits.

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Hemicycle European Parliament Strasbourg — European Union

What's coming up in Parliament

Greens/EFA priorities - plenary session 25-28 March 2019

A look ahead to the March II plenary session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

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Ending the secrecy that allowed the car emissions scandal to flourish

Dieselgate

After car manufacturers were caught manipulating the results of emissions tests designed to reduce the amount of pollution emitted by vehicles in Europe, the Greens/EFA Group is still pushing hard to fix the failures in the EU’s regulatory process that allowed for this massive-scale emissions fraud.

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Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 10-14 December 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included humanitarian visas, conflict of interest of Czech Prime Minister, transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food chain, the digital service tax, the revocability of Art 50 ...

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Ruling stops license to pollute

ECJ decision Euro6

The General Court of the European Court of Justice issued a ruling on the amendment of the Euro6 norms and annuls the conformity factor in the RDE legislation. The European Commission watered down the limits for NOx emissions by introducing a conformity factor.

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Making polluters responsible for climate protection

CO2 standards for trucks

The vast majority of the Environment Committee's MEPs have just asserted themselves against the Conservatives and voted in favour of strict CO2 standards for trucks and now have a solid position for negotiations with the Council and the European Commission, in "trilogue", on a regulation for "CO2 emission standards for new heavy goods vehicles".

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One-third of chemicals on the market breach EU safety rules

Chemicals

For years, chemical companies in the European Union have marketed hundreds of harmful chemicals that without properly checking if they are toxic, eco-toxic or have the potential to cause cancer, impair fertility and inhibit the development of unborn children.

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Car emissions — Ruben de Rijcke (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Car companies must be held to account over possible collusion

Emissions cheating

The European Commission has just announced that it will open a formal investigation into whether BMW, Daimler and VW colluded to breach EU anti-trust rules around the roll-out of clean emissions technology.

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car emissions_header© Mike Schmidt.jpg — car emissions © Mike Schmidt

Challenging Dieselgate Secrecy

Official complaint to EU Ombudsman on lack of transparency

Bas Eickhout has submitted an official complaint to the European Ombudsman to challenge the secrecy of the Commission and Council around the Dieselgate scandal which has been hitting headlines across Europe since 2015. The Dieselgate revelations were a scandal on many different fronts, affecting consumer rights, public health, environmental protection, public confidence in regulators and oversight bodies and also the share price of many car companies.

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Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 16-19 April 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Future of Europe - debate with President Macron; Selmayr: Commission ethics in question – Discharge of Commission 2016 budget; Money Laundering - New legislation will deliver real benefits for citizens; Organics - Parliament seals the deal on new legislation; Greenhouse gas emissions; The Circular Economy; Energy performance of buildings; Facebook & Cambridge Analytica - Parliament response to scandal; Protection of journalists - resolution following recent murders; Dieselgate - new legislation on type-approval and market surveillance.

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