Hearing of S&eacute;gol&egrave;ne ROYAL, Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, France at the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector&nbsp;(EMIS) of the EP in Strasbourg. Statements by S&eacute;gol&egrave;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, Jens GIESEKE (EPP, DE), Rapporteur,&nbsp; Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL), Michel DANTIN (EPP, FR), and Christine REVAULT D'ALLONNES BONNEFOY (S&amp;D, FR).

Strasbourg

meeting

emissions of vehicles (T)

GERBRANDY, Gerben-Jan (ALDE, NL)

DANTIN, Michel (EPP, FR)

hearing

GIESEKE, Jens (EPP, DE)

Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector

REVAULT D'ALLONNES BONNEFOY, Christine (S&D, FR)

ROYAL, Ségolène (FR)

Hearing of Ségolène ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea: extracts from the meeting of the EMIS Committee

Arrival of S&eacute;gol&egrave;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, greetings to EMIS Committee Presidency Members.

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, The tests have shown significant accidents of the limits of conditions in real driving conditions. De-pollution system used by various manufacturers do not work optimally all the time, and that is why I have decided to confer additional enquiries in order to better understand the malfunctioning of the defeat devices. Up to the end of December we will have more information on 7 more vehicles, 3 of Volkswagen, 2 of Renault, 1 Fiat and 1 PSA and there will be three other assessments launched at the beginning of 2017.

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, The different procedures will allow us to take this case before the Courts; for the moment we have two cases, on Volkswagen and Renault, and we will wait to see the result of those cases in the course of Justice.

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, We need to ensure that European regulation gets more transparency and is more ambitious. On October 2015, 1 month after the Volkswagen scandal the European Commission proposed an unacceptable compromise with conformity coefficients that were too high. On 30 of October I contested this decision and I asked this to be brought to Ministerial level. Unfortunately the European Parliament did not use its right of objection to this bad decision. Discussions continued and I hope that we have an ambitious conformity coefficient and I hope that the dates will be maintained and not delayed as the manufacturers are asking for, and of course I hope that the EU Parliamentarians will be this time on the attack front during the trilogues and they will be vigilant to any decision being proposed.

SOUNDBITE (German), Jens GIESEKE (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Can you comment on initiatives in Paris, and other cities to keep diesel vehicles out of city centres? What does that means for drivers of diesels, you&rsquo;ve talked of doing away with tax advantages, but what happens to people who own old diesel cars and are excluded from city centres? Will they be compensated in some way?

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, There will be no compensation, I&rsquo;m not in favour of environmental sticks, I&rsquo;m much in favour of environmental carrot. If anyone gives up an old diesel car they get 10.000 euro towards a new electric car.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL), France together with special Italy and Spain, for years and years have delayed and watered down the RDE process. We&rsquo;ve seen that in the minutes of the TCMFI. But still you are heavily criticising that. Can you explain the role that the French civil servants played in the TCMFI

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, The French officials are not under my instructions, and that&rsquo;s why I have restored order in matters and in procedures, and I believe this should be taken at ministerial level. There are many subjects: environmental protection, and pollution where transparency has to be restored, and where lobbies have to be kept at bay.

SOUNDBITE (French), Michel DANTIN (EPP, FR), Do you consider that the death line that the manufactures have to become compliant, especially for euro 5 and euro 6 standards, will allow them to actually put in place the changes that they have been asked to do?

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, Yes, I believe that that is the case, and I think it will be wrong to push those deathliness back.

SOUNDBITE (French), Christine REVAULT D&apos;ALLONNES BONNEFOY (S&amp;D, FR), You&rsquo;ve said that as of now, for the vehicle in France to get type of approval it has to meet RDE conditions. Now seeing this in legal terms, we are still following REDC, so not RDE, but lab test conditions, how in legal terms do you intend to make sure, that people who don&rsquo;t respect those conditions have their approval removed.

SOUNDBITE (French), S&#233;gol&#232;ne ROYAL, French Minister for the Environment, Energy and the Sea, On the regulation of the placing on the market, and art 4, just say that vehicles have to meet conformity standards for RDE. So the legal base is extremely clear. On the second point, we going to call for antifraud authorities to investigate and to communicate any aspect if there is a need to withdraw any vehicles from the market.