Meeting of the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS), in the EP in Brussels. Hearing of Olaf LIES, Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, Germany and statements by Ismail ERTUG (S&amp;D, DE), Hans-Olaf HENKEL (ECR, DE), and Gesine MEISSNER (ALDE, DE).

Brussels

meeting

emissions of vehicles (T)

HENKEL, Hans-Olaf (ECR, DE)

hearing

Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector

MEISSNER, Gesine (ALDE, DE)

ERTUG, Ismail (S&D, DE)

LIES, Olaf (DE)

Hearing of Olaf LIES, Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, Germany: extracts from the meeting of the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS)

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, I am responsible for the economy, employment and transport and my most important objective is always to keep people in mind. Economic policy in Lower Saxony means ensuring Lower Saxony has its place as an investment location in Europe, and I am in permanent dialogue with our various partners. As Economy minister I am in favour of fair wages and secure jobs, and the Lower Saxony government is there to put the framework in place.

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, Authorities have been a reliable partner for Volkswagen (VW). VW and Lower Saxony have historically grown together. Lower Saxony is the second biggest shareholder in VW, there are two official representatives of Lower Saxony in the supervisory board of VW.

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, the type approval authority is the KBA (Kraftfahrbundesamt abb. KBA, English title: Federal Motor Transport Authority). The KBA is responsible for assessing the conformity of production of vehicles. In-use compliance tests and tests on the emissions reducing systems is also the responsibility of the KBA.

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, So far us it was always a question of the type approval that we have to use in laboratory as a federal land, but of course it is of greta interest, in fact one of the tasks of the Minster in line with the work I had at the supervisory board to find the lowest consumption engine and the less pollutant engine, given the competitiveness of the industry but also in the interest of human health.

SOUNDBITE (German), Ismail ERTUG (S&amp;D, DE), I would like to come back to your role on the supervisory board of VW, could you tell us what the supervisory board did in response to this scandal? And there different opinions on the employers side, the workers side and the land of Lower Saxony?

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, when we heard about this on the 19th of September, and number of measures were taken. A special committee was set up within the supervisory board of VW, and the role of that special committee was to carry out an inquiry. I am a member of that  special committee. We asked Jones Day, we commissioned Jones Day an international firm, to asses all of the VW data in Europe and the US and to assess from that data how  a decision could have been taken to adopt such a technical solution.

SOUNDBITE (German), Hans-Olaf HENKEL (ECR, DE), I put the question to you as member of the supervisory board but also speaking as the minister in charge. Does it ever occur to you that there is something fundamentally wrong in your corporate culture of this company?

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, These cases referred to cannot be swept under the carpet, those three examples that you referred to make it clear that there is no fundamental foresaying that that is the full picture of the company, or refers to the company culture.

SOUNDBITE (German), Hans-Olaf HENKEL (ECR, DE), No, I have to interrupt you, if you really think that all of these cases are just accidents, or incidental, why do these kinds of incidents don't happen in other big German companies?

SOUNDBITE (German), Gesine MEISSNER (ALDE, DE), Did it not occur to you, did it not occur to anybody, to start asking questions about how this was all working? Given the difficulty of fitting with these values. And we know that with the available technology this was only possible by finding a way of circumventing it.

SOUNDBITE (German), Olaf LIES, German Minister for Economy, Labour and Transport of Lower Saxony, There was no reason to look into this, as soon as there was, we dealt with it.