Liberal and Democrat MEPs celebrated on 28 March the adoption of a cross-party resolution by the plenary of the European Parliament on the recent developments in the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal.

This success came despite attempts by the EPP Group in the European Parliament and the ECR Group to obstruct the motion, by tabling their own minimal, watered down texts.

The parliamentary resolution calls for a number of measures, most pertinently, for the Commission to publish guidelines on the recall of vehicles, including details about how recalled vehicles should comply with EU regulations, including hardware retrofits where software updates do not ensure compliance with emissions limits.

The resolution also adds the Parliament's support for the European Ombudsman’s recommendation in case 1275/2018/EWM, confirming the Commission has significantly obstructed the work of the parliament's dieselgate inquiry committee.

Parliament’s adopted text also criticises the European Commission’s decision to appeal to the judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ ruled that the Commission's decision to allow more pollution from diesel cars was illegal.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP, author for the ALDE Group of the joint political text commented today after the vote today:

“We need a full and proper response from the European Commission to the conclusion of our inquiry committee on Dieselgate, without further delays. This goes beyond air quality, this is a matter of democratic accountability. This is the right thing to do, we have to learn from the mistakes in the past."

“We never cleaned up the mess of Dieselgate. There are still millions of fraudulent diesel cars driving around European cities. What we need is a strong coordinated response.

“Individual Member States are taking unilateral measures in such a way that they might get rid of these cars from their own territories, only for them to be exported to other EU countries. This remains a European problem. The only institution that can come up with a solution is the European Commission. We have to get these cars off the road and ensure they comply with European legislation.”

“I deeply regret that the EPP Group could not support the joint text negotiated by ALDE and other mainstream parties and instead tried to push a watered down resolution to obstruct progress on these important matters.”