The group of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament is calling for a committee of inquiry into the VW emissions scandal.

The group has also written to all the 28 EU environment and industry ministers calling on them to substantially modify draft decisions taken by the Commission based on the recommendations of the national experts on 28 October.

The group said that this decision means that cars will be allowed to pollute much more than what was set in the car emission standards.

MEP Miriam Dalli said that the group of Socialists and Democrats will not accept a decision that undermines the environmental standards and the legally binding emission limits agreed eight years ago.She is one of the negotiators who on behalf of the European Parliament are working to reduce Euro 6 vehicle emissions.

"We were always on the forefront asking for absolute transparency on this matter. I am satisfied that our efforts are leaving a mark on the stance taken by the European Parliament on this case. Our aim is for Parliament to take a strong final position. As representatives of the citizens we want to know what happened, what where the loopholes in the emissions legislation and where the compliance regime failed," Dr Dalli said.

Miriam Dalli said that according to the latest news, the European Commission was informed about illegal software hiding real emissions back in 2012. "We already called on the Commission to investigate this scandal. But at this point we need to understand what failed and more importantly why we had to learn about this fraudulent case from the US," concluded Dr Dalli.

The letter can be accessed through this link:

http://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/sites/default/files/real_driving_emmissions_test_automative_sector_en_151126.pdf

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