Parliament calls on the Commission to act for citizens health

Today, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution on recent developments concerning the Dieselgate scandal. Internal Market Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska recently announced that the European Commission has brought an action countering the judgment of the European Court of Justice that annulled pollution permits. Germany and Hungary formally support the Commission in this appeal procedure. The Commissioner also stated that a draft regulation, which would allow legal thresholds to be exceeded, will be presented shortly. The European People's Party sided with the far right and refused to co-sign the resolution on Dieselgate.

Bas Eickhout, Greens/EFA climate spokesperson and leading candidate in the European elections, comments:

 "Every year, around half a million people die prematurely from air pollution across Europe and yet three and half years after the emissions cheating scandal we still have 43 million dirty diesel cars on our roads. Inaction on this enormous health and environmental crisis by the European Commission amounts to complicity in this scandal. The European Parliament is once again calling on the European Commission, to act in the interest of European citizens and not just for the profits of a handful of companies.

"For too long the car industry has been driving the agenda of the Commission and the Member States on the types of vehicles that should be on our roads. The Commission appears so desperate to appease the German car industry that it is allowing the premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of citizens to continue through its inaction and its attempts to allow heavy polluters to keep producing dirty diesel cars. It's time we moved on from diesel cars and challenged the power of the car lobby in our politics and on our roads."