During the EP plenary session (11-14 September 2017) in Strasbourg,&nbsp;MEPs debate on&nbsp;Dieselgate; strengthening EU environment, health, consumer rights standards in connection to recent actions by Member States, including Germany and Austria. Statements by Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), Matti MAASIKAS, Estonian Deputy Minister for EU Affairs, Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Krisjanis KARINS (EPP, LV), Kathleen VAN BREMPT (S&amp;D, BE), Daniel DALTON (ECR, UK) and Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

MAASIKAS, Matti (EE)

emissions of vehicles (T)

KATAINEN, Jyrki (FI, EC)

DALTON, Daniel (ECR, UK)

VAN BREMPT, Kathleen (S&D, BE)

GERBRANDY, Gerben-Jan (ALDE, NL)

KELLER, Ska (Greens/EFA, DE)

KARIŅŠ, Krišjānis (EPP, LV)

Dieselgate; strengthening EU environment, health, consumer rights standards in connection to recent actions by Member States, including Germany and Austria: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (German), Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), This Diesel gate is a triple scandal: a health scandal, a consumer scandal and political scandal. The Dieselgate scandal is a health issue, the situation in many cities in Europe is dire, 72 000 people die annually from nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere, which is almost three times more than from traffic accidents. So these diesel cars are the major polluters of air in our large cities. We have to retrofit, we have to upgrade them in a consistent manner. Software updates as Chancellor MERKEL has agreed with the car industry are not sufficient. And the ministry for Environment in Germany is also aware of this. We have to ensure that hard ware is tackled as well to stop these dirty cars and make them clean.

SOUNDBITE (English), Matti MAASIKAS, Estonian Deputy Minister for EU Affairs, The Dieselgate scandal is just one part of a much wider problem: In Europe we have 400, 000 premature deaths due to bad air quality. That is one of the reasons why we need very ambitious laws and the political will to put them into practice.

SOUNDBITE (English), Matti MAASIKAS, Estonian Deputy Minister for EU Affairs, the emissions scandal has shown that we need in particular that we need in particular better car testing and market surveillance. The Presidency is putting its best efforts to achieve progress in these areas.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Today that I can ensure you that our commitment remains strong, and that the Commission is acting simultaneously on three fronts: first, better enforcement second, better market surveillance third, better rules for the future.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, We welcome the decision of four Member States, Austria, Germany, Finland and Portugal whom made their recall campaigns mandatory.

SOUNDBITE (Latvian), Kri&#353;j&#257;nis KARI&#325;&#352; (EPP, LV), One of the reactions would be oh dear, oh dear, all diesel vehicles need to disappear, this is unbearable. But let us be realistic, we are talking about millions of employees, it is one of the driving forces, the engines of the European economies. Rather than banning this technology across the board, it is better to call upon the manufacturers to improve this technology, to change this technology.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kathleen VAN BREMPT (S&amp;D, BE), Let's be honest and look at what happened on the recall programme of the Volkswagen, the Commission expected it to be completed by the autumn 2017. Well that is today! 3 million cars haven't been recalled yet. and it is not only that, it is also the other cars that have been cheating, and the differences in the different Member States, some of them are mandatory the other are voluntary, some are only on the national car market and others are different. How shall the Commission make sure that all consumers in Europe have the same rights? How ill you do that? I haven't seen an answer.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel DALTON (ECR, UK), The parliament report proposed a system that would do just that: proper market surveillance obligations for Member States, and the Commission mandated to check for failings in national market surveillance, reviews and audits of all parts of testing and approval process, to shine a light on weaknesses at every stage.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL), <p>Despite legal obligations, EU governments have barely taken any actions. Ans that is the chore of the problem.I'll give a few examples: The German authorities have still not really taken action against Volkswagen, they didn't fine Volkswagen, the recall programme is extremely weak, and consumers are not all compensated for their loss. The UK has refused so far to take action against SKODA, they haven't done anything, despite all the evidence that is on the table.</p>