THE UK’s Green MEPs have launched a petition calling on the European Commission to immediately carry out a European Fraud Investigation into vehicle emissions testing [1]. The MEPs want all vehicles investigated, both petrol and diesel, to find out the extent to which ‘defeat devices’ are being used to cheat emission tests.
Nine out of ten diesel vehicles currently exceed permitted pollution levels [2] with around 400,000 premature deaths in Europe attributable to air pollution [3]. In a statement on the launch of the petition, Green MEPs Jean Lambert, Molly Scott Cato and Keith Taylor said:
“Given the appalling costs of air pollution in Europe both in terms of public health and financially the recent revelations that Volkswagen has cheated pollution tests for 11 million of its diesel vehicles adds insult to injury. This scandal shows unequivocally that car manufacturers are committing fraud, with criminal intent, through the use of so-called 'defeat devices'.
“Having maintained the myth of ‘clean diesel’, car-makers are now trying to avoid a Europe-wide inquiry. As Green MEPs for the South West, South East of England and London, we call on the EU institutions not to give into industry lobbying, the result of which would be the protection of private interests at the expense of citizens' health.
“We refuse to accept that the people we represent continue to be poisoned in order to swell the profits of car manufacturers. We therefore call for full transparency and for the law to be upheld.”
Molly Scott Cato is the first elected Green MEP for the South West of England and Gibraltar and is one of 50 Green/EFA MEPs in the European Parliament. She sits on the Economics and Monetary Affairs Committee.