Press conference by Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee, on Car emissions, during the EP plenary session in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg

emissions of vehicles (T)

press conference

LA VIA, Giovanni (EPP, IT)

Car emissions: extracts from the Press conference by Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee, &ldquo;There was an objection to the vote today. We had 701 votes. 317 in favour of the objection and, 323 against, with 61 abstentions. A qualified majority was required, half plus one, to make legislative the vote, so the objection was rejected."

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee, &ldquo;This way we will have clear legislative framework, we will be able to use that as a basis for the industry to get down to work right away, and plan investments with a clear timetable in order to reduce emissions from cars that will be placed on onto the market. Gradual emissions reductions can be achieved, like I have said with a clear timetable, with 2023 as the latest deadline. This will be in line with the previous test.&rdquo;

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee, &ldquo;Under real conditions there are actually four to five times more emissions. This is in accordance with new testing procedure in real life conditions. With the new standards that have been confirmed today, the objections presented by some political groups have been rejected which means that the industry will be obliged to achieve real reductions in emissions in the short term for those motor vehicles that we place in the market.&rdquo;

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee, &ldquo;The European Parliament said that the proposal was unacceptable, not because the Parliament has been snapped or not given due importance. It was simply because the time scale for co-legislation process was too slow and, this issue was rather more urgent.&rdquo;

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT), Chair of the Environment Committee, &ldquo;I think today's vote it gives a clear legislative framework. There are deadlines in it from September 2017 on we will have an emissions framework that will go beyond type approval. The European Commission has already approved the type approval on the basis of our agreement from the last week. That will come back to the Parliament for examination now. What this means is as for September 2017 will have a clear defined framework. We do not have that yet. You have type approval for cars at the moment using the previous procedure. What that means is the lab makes predictions about the 2017 targets. But in reality, the emissions generally tend to exceed those levels. What will happen by next year is that the checks and controls will go beyond type approval. There will be other types of monitoring and inspections involving more technical experts and it will lead to the net reduction in emissions. So we have a clear timeline now, for reducing fine particular matter emissions.&rdquo;