The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament once more denounced any fraudulent behaviour intended to circumvent environmental laws in the European Union. Today they supported a parliamentary resolution in which they deplore the fact that millions of consumers have been misled by false information regarding emissions from their vehicles; emissions that have harmful effects on human health and the environment.
 
They have again called on the Commission and member states to take concrete action to restore consumer confidence and proceed with investigations into the manipulation of emissions test results. Moreover they call for the establishment of an EU-level surveillance authority to improve implementation of EU environmental regulations and ensure an EU-wide level playing field. They also call for a thorough investigation examining the role and responsibility of the Commission and the member state authorities regarding their knowledge of the breaches of EU regulations.
 
S&D spokesperson on the environment, Matthias Groote MEP, said:
 
"The S&D Group has been calling for a Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test procedure for years, which needs to be applied to vehicles from 2017 onwards with no new loopholes in the form of conformity factors or deviation margins to ensure that new diesel cars on EU roads finally meet the Euro 6 limit agreed almost 10 years ago.
 
"Furthermore, we want to make sure that the ordinary workers - be it the manufacturers or suppliers - don't have to fear for their jobs, because of mistakes made by the top management.
 
"Lastly, the emissions scandal should be seen as an opportunity for the European car industry to invest in more targeted R&D in order to move faster towards our next step: the electrification of the European car fleet."