european parliament in strasbourg, france. >> thank you madam president, and commissioner. today we are talking about a very sad story. thatgislators, we thought over the years we had contributed in a practical emissions ofducing

cars. we thought that we had reached important targets to ensure that european citizens would be able to live in a cleaner environment. fact, we find ourselves confronted with a different situation. we guarantee clean air to breathe for our citizens. we are now certain that our legislative wishes were illusionary, we were not able to identify the fraud that had been carried out. so these organizations have been deliberately been exceeded by one of the largest carbon factories. concerned just like my colleagues who will be speaking after me, and i turn to the european commission asking whether there have been other particulates, co2,

or is thisxide, or the only pollutant? is it true that the emissions were 40 times greater than the limit allowed? we need to know the truth. we ask you to keep us abreast of the outcome of your investigation. we thank you for coming immediately to the committee, as soon as the scandal erupted, but we would like to know if it is true, as has been declared by many car manufacturers apart from volkswagen, that these tests for emissions were not manipulated. be some like there to form of independent scrutiny.

this is really important. it has to do with the health of our european citizens. it has been a sad story for many reasons. how is it possible that the authorities did not discover these illegal devices over such a long. of time -- long period of time? what are the tools used? what is the equipment? the american university discovered this fraud but we should ask member states who is in charge -- responsible for this? how is it possible that these cars passed the tests? what is the position of the commission here and what does the commissioner think about there being a surveillance authority, which would be able to check what has been carried out?

the localthinking of authorities in the municipal authorities who are not able to reach the air quality requirements. that the european commission has said that they are violating the provisions but now they know what was going on. there were people that were not sticking to the rules and they perhaps have been erroneously considered to be responsible. so, commissioner, we discovered emissionsn monoxide can be different on the road compared to what is calculated in a laborde tour he -- laborious tree -- laboratory. that is why they are carrying out real-time in missions to test real driving conditions. , byuld like to know whether 2017, will the commission use these tests or attempt to use a

random cycle system? to know exactly what is happening in this area. we need to know if this is isolated or if several companies are doing the same thing. i would like to know why the european union's has to wait for a scandal to corrupt before acting. it happened with the food sector before we imposed traceability for meat. unfortunately thousands of people had to die in the mediterranean before we came up with a proper migration policy. now we are faced with this scandal. did we really need this scandal to realize the system has to change? mrs. ford has the floor for five minutes. >> for the vast majority of consumers, buying a car is the single biggest purchase they make in their lives after they

have bought a home. this scandal is not just about money. it is also about health. cheating the standards brings a massive and fundamental breach of trust. for the market to work properly, there must be trust. a trust in a service or a good that it is what the supplier claims it is. trust that it complies with the relevant laws or regulations. trust that your competitors are acting honestly and trusted that official bodies have done their jobs properly. this principle has to apply all across the market. all across all 28 member states. and each of these standards must be applied in every country. because once we lose the trust of consumers it cannot easily be restored. volkswageneave

customers to face chaos. i don't know if the car that they own will be recalled or upgraded or whether they will be paid. and consumers looking to buy new cars from another company are also very uncertain. they want to know whether or not it is just volkswagen who have used the devices were are there other companies involved. they want to know why officials did not act sooner. who knew what. they want to know why it was discovered in the u.s. before the eu. the consumers want answers to those questions and i agree with them. we need drivers to use diesel cars and to have confidence that when they purchase one they have made the correct choice. and we cannot let the actions of one company tarnish an entire sector. so we need a full investigation. cannvestigation that people trust in across the entire single market. i know it is not possible to regulate the way forward but

proper oversight can minimize it. a national regulator is required by law to enforce legislation. if our member states agree, they must implement them. because the strength of any approval across the eu is only as strong as the weakest link. the sameg must work to high standard otherwise there is a race to the regulatory bottom and turning a blind eye and one member state means that can be sent across all 28. our mother states must work together in a coordinated fashion. we know that the emissions tests are already being updated. we have known for many years that the emissions tests and fuel efficiency claims did not represent real-world experience and that is why the commission is already due to announce new testing processes by the end of this year and early last month,

the commission officials came into my committee to discuss what they were doing. but without any details. needs to make these announcements soon because manufacturers need to know what they have to deliver. they have to deliver to these new tests by any new cars that are approved after the end of next year but the commission must also keep the parliament involved. the parliament has a role to scrutinized allocated acts and 500 million people expect us to do our job properly. i get a bit fed up with secondary legislation being written in the commission but then arriving in the parliament last minute with some comment about, don't worry it is just detail. people expect us to do our job and to scrutinize both the

primary and secondary legislation and we must get the details right. we need time to understand it and to listen to both consumers and manufacturers and expert advice if necessary. parliament talks a lot about better lawmaking. the commission is trying to deliver better lawmaking and we need to make that happen. we cannot let this happen again. >> thank you, very much indeed. >> thank you madam president, madame commissioner. i agree with my colleagues from both committees. i originally sent the question to the commission but let me add, the general reputation of

eu carmakers and the whole european industry. say that what happened is completely unacceptable. we expect a full investigation and a full accountability of those who are responsible. it happens while we are negotiating a very sensitive issue with our relations with the usa. the case shows that we should not be afraid that it will lower our environmental standards. shares our standards and perhaps is even more advanced in scrutinizing them. ago we saidyears testing must be improved and harmonized. together with tackling the

misleading information on fuel consumption. the issue has not yet been solved. the open commission and member states must also investigate if the case concerns just one manufacturer, or whether we might be facing a much broader problem. if that is the case it will be necessary to look. we like to talk a lot about ambitious standards but if they are not technologically realistic it cannot be committed cost-effectively or controlled. they are not worth very much. thank you. >> thank you, you have the floor. president, ladies and gentlemen, the transport committee is affected by this scandal because we know that without a change in mobility we will not be able to stop climate

.hange 24% is what transport accounts for. since 1990, in industry we have seen a decrease of 2% but entrance -- transport and increased to the tune of 28%. transport is gobbling up everything we are spreading elsewhere. without a change in mobility we will not be able to stop climate change, but we have to stop climate change for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. that is the reason why in that white paper of 2011 we took a between now and 2030 when it comes to urban transport, 15% of the conventional flow would be reduced and by 2050, we would have no conventional fuels at all in the city. we decided that would be our target and we would achieve this

target to greater efficiency, new engines, new fuel and new combustion levels. of course, it cannot do that through cheating or criminal activities and that is something we must speak out against very strongly. this was not a technological shortcoming it was a financial deficit. this is why volkswagen made this decision. they decided rather to cheat then be honest. if they have been honest the car would've been more expensive. unfortunately the technological abilities were there but were not used in this case. here in the eu we have targets in the field of transport, ambitious targets set by the commission and we have supported those ambitions targets here in parliament. the transport committee for us did not go far enough. we talked about a third step and we needed three steps in succession and that is why we decided to look at 2020.

we look at levels for the 1990 co2 emissions and we wanted to cut them by 20%. they brought majority supported that decision. andwe have new white paper the whole thing is documented. the testing cycles need to be revisited. there is no point having the best values in the laboratory environment. we have to gauge things according to how they pan out on the road. the commission needs to analyze this. why is it that nobody noticed before? you need to analyze the mistakes that may have been made by the commission. what mistakes may have been made by the member state? all of this needs to be investigated and of course we want to make sure we have a full and open investigation into the automobile industry.

we cannot have a repetition of this. that is why we want proposals and we expect proposals from the commission. once you have time to process this i would like to know your proposal for the future and how do we make sure this kind of criminal activity is not repeated again in the future. this was a way of deceiving customers as well. cheating customers in terms of the fuel being consumed. this is a bad thing for taxpayers. and car taxation and many country is calculated to co2 emissions. this is wrong and we cannot turn it around. the environment has been hard hit by this and we cannot afford to damage the environment in this way. and weriminal activity fear that might be happening in other sectors, too. be an't what that to little.

-- a loophole. loopholes should be closed. we need to investigate all of that, we need to be thorough and we must make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. indeed. you, very much now you have the floor on behalf of the commission. >> madam president and honorable members. i'm grateful for having the opportunity to have this point of agenda and to explain to you the actions of the european commission for the last 10 days. we face a very difficult case of fraud. a fraud of one company. put in the state public trust in european cars. it put at stake the credibility of our legal system and the

potential to affect consumers and the environment. these are backbones of the european actions and regulations. i believe that we will be able to overcome it. i think the european parliament for giving me the opportunity to share this information, and those at the beginning i want to say i'm ready to continue providing every piece of information to ensure this will not happen again. the commission and member states quickly andto act collectively. this means three points. one, investigating and establishing the facts. the second point is accelerating the toxin of the regularity framework commission and changing the survey ants system so this cannot happen again --

surveillance systems so this cannot happen again. i will speak of each of these in turn. i want you to know that the commission will play a full role in sorting this out. let me touch on the first point. establishing the facts. from which weing have to stop. we must start by establishing the facts. you asked me how the commission will investigate any potential wrongdoing. have thession does not power to carry our own investigation in the authority sector. we rely on the authority of the member states. these institutions are professional. let's not jeopardize what we have built together so far. a widespread feeling of mutual suspicion is not helping

coherent and effective european action. beentigations have already launched in several member states and the commission has encouraged all others to do the same. every member state and every manufacturer. the commission is providing a platform for the exchange of information between member states. in this sense, we have already had several meetings with authorities. we have discussed this matter in detail at the council on the first of october. the national authorities are together, exchanging information with the commission. is organizing a meeting with the national approval authorities. we need to have clarified as soon as possible from the extent of the front. vehicleance, how many

motors are involved? how many vehicles in total? on which conditions have vehicle sales been banned? once we have the facts, we must act guest: -- act. we have zero tolerance for fraud. we have a very clear message today on the enforcement of existing rules. those rules must be strictly reflected. again, national authorities have a crucial role to play. we need to be clear about what and when we will do. what action will be taken to remedy the situation and when it will be carried out. asneed to do it as quickly possible to restore consumer confidence. i think this is a real damage and we need to apply the rules even if it means section. we over this to the european citizens -- we owe this to the

european citizens. i think uncoordinated national action will only make things worse. we will only succeed if we act together. of course because the question was whether we noticed that something was wrong. testinged the system of emissions and laboratories is not the right one and the commission proposed regulation on the real driving emission testing two years ago. the first was voted in may but i think we have to accelerate. the new legislation will include process toactice -- directly assess real driving conditions. and the new testing procedure will eliminate the possibility to your devices. and it will ensure that regulatory emissions limits are actually met. package of the

procedures setting up exact timing and level of the so-called conformity factors is meant to be voted this year. and will do it. improvingird point is surveillance systems so it cannot happen again. where should we act? where list those actions action is needed urgently. support isour full really essential. approval system for motor vehicles in the-year-old lies in the premarket testing and approval of vehicles. this is the system used in almost the whole world and has been studied and evaluated in detail for several years. the conclusion of our studies has been that the system has been efficient to ensure

safe and environmentally friendly cars on the road. ensured that the market is fully harmonized and every time a member state's -- it can be proof bought and registered in 20 member states. this has the obvious advantage to the citizens and industry. our staff conclusion also indicated that we can improve the system, especially in governance and market surveillance. in working on a new commission proposal for the last year on the eu type per -- approval system of motor vehicles. in light of volkswagen's problem, we will analyze our proposal again and will suggest further things to prevent events from happening. i hope to prevent it to the

commission as soon as possible. be presentedwill to you and the council and we suspect that our common work will be quick. we expect that the resulting to morel contribute effective market surveillance and will improve safeguard measures and recall procedures. let me say it again. european consumers must be reassured that non-confirmed products are not circulated on the eu market. all, we a message to us need to ask ourselves what lessons we draw from this problem and behavior. we have to remind companies that they should respect the letter and spirit of the law. socially and environmentally responsible companies have been one of the europe's biggest assets.

i hope that we can work together for this to continue to be the truth. thank you very much. thank you, very much indeed. we now move to speakers on behalf of this group. >> thank you very much. adam commissioner. the volkswagen scandal by the american authorities really was like able from the blue. there are so many issues that we can learn from this and in particular seek the truth. it is unacceptable and it needs to be sanctioned. they want to cheat people and they lost and that is what we have to become aware of. it is the betrayal of consumers as well. their health and environment is at stake. and the public authorities and who like me stand

up and defend responsible european industry which create jobs and this could cast a shadow across the entire automobile industry. at length it will affect the credibility of-year-old industry throughout the world -- of european industry throughout the world. present this ford scandal from spreading. be a good idea to protect the end of diesel engines. snd, and farmers who use vehicles. we know that we have technological advance in europe with clean diesel. andould be a mistake here now to condemn diesel and the car industry that uses diesel. madame commissioner, you have made certain proposals and of course we are awaiting the test results as quickly as possible

on real driving conditions. i am also wondering how realistic are -- our environmental legislation is. are we not sometimes too ambitious? when we are talking about air quality and health, we need to be ambitious and pragmatic. let me conclude, our major industrial company has to play the game of transparency and respect the rules people are going to continue to trust them. thank you very much. criminal behavior from any company at all, the matter the size, is absolutely intolerable in the european union. it not only breaks the public trust it undermines the quality of our european products. in this case it damages the health of our european citizens. as we all know, air pollution across the eu is already causing

more than 400 premature deaths per year. the mere fact that the epa in the u.s., and not our international approval authorities, discovered the devices is embarrassing. i do not share your confidence in our national authorities. i think the european system today where carmakers pate national testing organizations -- if they can choose themselves where they want them to be tested, is not working today. mrs. commissioner, we would like to ask you to establish an independent eu approved authority. there is also a very inconvenient truth. even the cars that passed the testing in a proper way -- let's presume in a proper way, are losing much more than they should. evidence that we advocated and to come up by

september 17 at the latest and without any loopholes. so with the conformity factor of one and not more. colleagues, let me conclude by never waste a serious crisis such as this. it is not about being against or in favor of dsl. what we have to do is make a leapfrog to clean diesel into the electric area. we need to make sure that we have a european union that supports our makers making solutions instead of problems. >> thank you. on behalf of ecr. >> ladies and gentlemen, regarding volkswagen. a lot of correct things have been said but also some things

that are not correct. emission values were indeed manipulated by volkswagen but it has also been alleged several times that this has something to do with the normal difference between the tests in the laboratory environment and transfer to the road. sot is not entirely right to far, we can also say that this is the biggest scandal that we have known since the second world war here in europe. to say that this is typical of the german automobile industry would be incorrect. is a special case and i want to make that clear. if you have trade union officials or politicians with a majority on the board and if that majority also decides to appoint autocrats is the head of the business and if you have involved orgetting interfering with the day-to-day running, then unfortunately, you have a culture where you simply turn a blind eye to things and

at the end of the day you have this kind of problem arising. trade union leaders and corporate managers and went on trips with lots of villages, unfortunately some of them were bored with visits to brussels. even without this scandal i'm afraid the volkswagen has terms -- problems in terms of free structuring. now we are talking about a company that needs to be overhauled. my final comment, i would defer you to europe which needs to be abolished in my view. >> on behalf of them, two minutes. 11 million buyers of volkswagen diesel cars have been cheated, of which 8 million are in europe. exposed toave been severe air pollution due to the initial emissions of one million tons of nox.

we do not know if this is the tip of the iceberg but all signs point to that direction. obviously the companies involved are the first to blame. they deliberately manipulative the tests and they should not be rewarded for these illegal actions by again watering down the european standards or allowing further delay in their enforcement. i expect the commission to stop stalling the process and to have a real driving emissions test up and running within six months. i also expect the commission to change the surveillance system. the current national approach is apparently not working, therefore a european independent oversight body must be established with the means to test cars themselves. there is another important political question that has to be answered. were the commission and certain member state authorities aware of achieving? -- of cheating.

of existence has been known for more than a decade. several reports, including one from the commission's research body reported about unexplainable differences between real emissions on the road and laboratory test results . why did the commission never initiate any investigations into the matter? i ask the commission here today -- was the commission aware of the practices by the car industry. is the commission willing to disclose internal documents on this matter including correspondence with certain member states. jrc and the international council of clean transportation. thank you. >> on behalf i will now passive toward to -- >> thank you mrs. chair.

volkswagenis act of totally shameful and unacceptable and a serious breach against consumers but also against european environmental legislation. and 11 million car owners. in the fraud. the european people will be largely affected as citizens because of this very harmful health effect. and the excessive air pollution and also as consumers. they falsified results in these tests have been reported to up for the times. as the legal maximum. volkswagen is by far the biggest car manufacturer in the eu market. with a market share of around wi-fi percent but not the only one. is this the only company which

has the same problem or are there other ones? and what is the commission doing with these? are we only checking out for volkswagen. offeran standards protection of european citizens and consumers. wasver this massive fraud released in u.s. markets. about the think government in paris and how it affects and how will the commission advance the emissions test requirements to improve the markets in europe. >> madam has agreed to it three minutes. >> colleagues, environmental

and consumer policy, things we have been discussing for the past 10 years and we have been striving for better and cleaner air, environmental protection and we have been discussing this and we got used to the fact that the auto industry representatives usually see our rules as an attack on their corporate strategy. despite all of the negative experiences i have had with lobbyists from all of the car industries, what i did not company thatat a is as strong and powerful as volkswagen -- when it cannot itp an ambitious cycle, takes criminal steps and systematically for years all over the authorities eyes. something i still cannot grasp.

this old thinking that environmental policy is seen as something not acceptable. i got used to this, but this readiness to commit fraud and crime is something i cannot understand. what gave rise to this? i would like to turn critically to the commission, but also my own federal government in germany. i don't know any further sector of regulation in which the federal government has tried so play thecally to interests of the major companies and protect them against regulations being imposed from brussels. time and time again, we don't only have a climate chancellor, we have a car chancellor in germany as well. up the reason it is picking for lower thresholds of these

questions of the test cycles and i think that this type of aggressive protection -- it pushes the companies into a situation where they can act in as criminal a way as we have seen. shouldmission, i think, accept that things were not as much as a bolt from the blue as people say they are. the german government and the commission always aimed at not having this test cycle working. it doesn't only apply to the diesel standard, it also applies to fuel efficiency proficiency. stop being naive. look at the facts. check them through. what you said to us today is very far removed from what needs to be done.

our weak positions are threatening jobs in europe. it is not environmental rules that threaten industry but industrye way that the is working at this level. >> do you accept a blue card? >> yes, of course. >> mr. edward. he seconds. >> i listened with interest to many of the things in your speech. i was wondering, in your opinion is the volkswagen scandal a one off or, from your critical remarks about the german government, that they were the commission may have some way conspired with other companies to break their own rules? what are your views on this? do you think this is more widespread than you know? >> the type of criminal action

shown by volkswagen -- i don't know. i have not seen it happening for other of the large concerns. vehiclen't know any concern which does not have a problem with these test cycles. i am not aware of any of them which does not need to be checked. that is why it is so important that we should be talking about a european inspection. we need european instruments to arm ourselves with them so that we can really do our jobs --perly in this type >> one minute. colleagues,ner and we wish to highlight the fact that the consequences of this case which is detrimental to the environment and citizens, that these consequences will cease to

magically spread across the entire european standard and test system and this will undermine the credibility of any type of sophistic -- certificate. who can trust the certificates? there are two solutions. one is to do nothing and recognize that it is just a joke. legislative or future legislative effort pointless. the second would be to react, to adopt exemplary punishment for those responsible and the brand ,oncerned, not just high fines it is quite clear to me and citizens that the time for the test to circumvent is over. we need to review directives, to identify the legislators shortcomings and the loopholes.

could i remind you that the commission center had already identified the diesel problems for volkswagen in a document which dates back to 2013. recently in france there have been reports of violation of legislation of samsung part -- product. the british and the swedish warned the commission about this about the samsung television sets that there were problems with regard to consumption tests. bells --, only alarm will the commission do something and act? >> for the europe of nations and freedom. >> thank you, madam president. as far as the volkswagen case is concerned, we need to be blunt. there has been manipulation, cheating, software manipulation. all of that is known. we are talking about a large corporation.

there is a great responsibility as well. all of the damages will be sustained by many and first of all it will be the consumers who will suffer damages, also the environment, and the company itself. and the staff working for this company. employees will be suffering as well. for consumers, we have to make sure there is some compensation. not just an apology, but genuine compensation. compensation for the damages sustained. as is very often and life there is a flipside to this coin and once again i don't want to embellish things or gloss over anything, but we need to look at the issue of fuel conception by cars and vehicles. the data given by manufacturers are not ever real when it comes to fuel consumption. the values we are given are given in a laboratory experiment

. it has an impact on the environment and the consumer as well, the wallets of our consumers. as a second aspect, united states of america. we are talking about a u.s. case because they have a regular missions and they always bring down the levels every time. look at trucks we are talking about emissions which are three times higher than for cars. so who stands to benefit from all of this? far, we have had no deaths as a consequence. thank you. minute. the evidence is clear.

the eu and the german government were aware of volkswagen's dirty policy and in affected other corporations as well. revelations of the scandal did not come about through transparency, but through competitive u.s. monopolies seeking to increase market shares. so what does that mean in terms of our trade agreement? --have seen that all of the there are separate aspects of the european policy that have one single objective. --t is to make profits to profits. we have a role to act as a type ofor here and this scandal is a way of operating. it shows the character of the european union. the capitalist system it serves and monopolies.

it is basically a rotten situation on the economic front and throughout our lives. that is what people can expect from europe. >> we now have individual statements to please -- statements. please, stick to the time allotted for you. there will be 45 speakers. much.nk you, very the fact that it was the americans rather than ourselves covering the fact that the eu companies are not complying with the regulation is shameful. member states are not and forcing the eu law and the european commission does not have enough control insurance at hand. yet again we are talking but something that our internal market and consumer protection committee has been looking at on a number of occasions.

my colleague was injured in report from several years ago. need a lot of commitment from the european commission but also from the eu member states to rectify this. with a veryt noxious nitrogen oxide coming from vehicles. a relevant situation, more power should be given to that european commission. but back then many colleagues were against it. listening to you today, dear colleagues, i hope that you have changed your mind now. negotiations are only just beginning. let us not panic, however. i agree that we need to thoroughly look into the eu market and to see how regulations are complied with. we need to rebuild consumer

confidence among the business people. to make sure they are not cheating us. and information in vehicle specifications may be needed to restore the confidence to the eu and nationally to see that they truly oversee the eu law. the commission needs to be able to measure the actual use of carbon. testsot a secret that car failed to meet that test requirements. >> one minute. >> i must say that i am a little surprised. you seem very relaxed regarding this council. your approach is a very relaxed one. you seem to have a lot of trust in terms of the types of

approval authorities in member states. this is not how i see competition. lowestho have the standards are given private place -- that is not right. what do i european type of institution, surely that would be a logical conclusion. i hope we will be able to talk about this in connection with revolution before this chamber. we aim to put this on paper. we know this from the field of medicine, approval of medicines, you have european authorities cooperating and the u.s. authorities working together with us on this. when and why. when were you informed of the scandal, at what point in time, how, etc.. our colleague made a very valid point in that respect. environmentalhe

agency that should have been looking at this. the national authorities and the german authorities, zero tests were implemented in the right way. what about israel and joint research center. what about the possibility of testing vehicles? i am asking if? any tests were carried out and what happened? >> president and commissioner. let me remind you that the information we have shows that suchan appealing -- manipulation using cheating devices at the time of the test concerns nearly 11 million vehicles by vw, but it could be much wider than that and i would

concernsrprised if it other companies as well. the question remains, whether it is not a result of our ambition to reduce emissions in transport. to reduce the carbon emissions in all of the sectors of european industry. the largest and richest companies manipulated and cheated during tests and that is harmful to the health of our citizens and the environment. that is unacceptable because the costs are borne by consumers. the average citizens pay out of their own pocket for the ambitious environmental standard, but also for our ambition to gain as much as possible. users and citizens should know the truth and find out what really happened with

volkswagen. we need proper investigation but we also need to draw conclusions to avoid such situations in the future. >> two minutes. >> [speaking foreign language] >> is everything ok? can we hear the english interpreting?

>> commissioner, it is in judgment. -- ladies and gentlemen, obviously what has happened is not justifiable, but it is not place a verdict on the european car industry or eliminate the sector, what we have to do is to renew consumer trust. are in all of those who the eu or who would like to buy a car have totally accurate information about it. in order to do this, not only in the european car industry but also across the institutions and we also have to try to rationally calm down those provoked by this problem and to put down very clear and practical solutions. your ideas to put together a stricter and more

accurate rules for initial testing which at the same time take into account also the interests of car industry and also our consumers. why i call for the commission to place as soon as possible finalized proposal regarding procedures for real driving emissions and to propose results that include requirements and elements for these tests. legislation for the syria should not leave -- for this area should not leave any room for interpretation. important to pay attention if we are unable to consistently require that our laws are strictly respected, they will find it very difficult to explain to our citizens that we are capable of defending their rights and our interests. iq. -- thank you.

gentlemen, i would like to say that this need not have happened. , we haveech republic had intervention in place for a number of years that eliminates 70% of motor vehicle emissions. it can be applied to any vehicle type regardless of age. even old vehicles will then comply with the relevant emission norms. --the european commission the european commission has not seen this. i have tried to propose it for several years to no avail. then, there are double standards. , they had to replace 11

million gearboxes throughout the world and nothing happened? how come there was the airbag --ndal which killed people how come -- >> indiscriminate volkswagen has deliberately broken the law. is clear that volkswagen has deliberately misled both regulators and consumers. must understand the regulatory environment in which this

scandal has emerged. byislators were consumed climate hysteria and carb o-phobia, so we pushed to diesel. emissions are only marginally below control, and co2 is not a pollutant. as we are now realizing, diesels other pollutants, are highly toxic and our dashboard diesel has done more harm than good. tofound that it was unable meet emissions targets so we decided to cheat. it was wrong to do so but so were we combat legislators, wrong to impose conflicting demands on the industry. i see a parallel with our ill judged rush to promote biofuels

before we understood the impact of indirect land-use change. biofuels and10% then rolling back later, we said confused to singles -- said confused signals to industry. this is not a time for shade and hadenfreude.r sc with the prospect of multimillion dollar fines in several countries, recall costs, class actions and so on, it is not think -- it is not inconceivable that vw should fail. that is an outcome we should all seek to prevent. >> i do apologize, i missed your name.

>> can i summarize your speech -- we are ontes top of it, sleep well parliament. that is how i summarize your speech. i really have problems there. the epa in the united states, when they were investigating, was there no contact at all between washington and brussels what they were doing and the staff did not know anything? it is really hard to believe. you have to be really precise on the actions you are taking now. first of all, on the investigation, can you confirm that this investigation is broader to the areas like co2 where you see a growing gap between tests and reality. now, because of this scandal, we're going to look at it again. where exactly are you going to look again?

thirdly, on the new tests, kenyon please deny -- can you please deny that at this moment they are -- the commission is putting forth a test of 1.6? cards .t in the of the eu is 80 milligrams per kilometer. in the u.s., it is 43, in california, 35. who is more ambitious now? card?ld you accept a blue 30 seconds. >> thank you very much, madam president. i would like to argue with you.

why do i disagree with you? these are man-made standards so we have to be very careful. if you comply with these standards, you're a good guy, if you don't, you are a bad guy. if you're a carmaker and you burn fuel, -- should europe move toward non-petrol cars or not? >> it is very simple. we oppose the standards for our safety, for public health. if the car industry cannot comply with it, then maybe they should not going to diesel. on the basis for the standards for our own safety -- the standards we agreed upon, for example this 80, which is not very ambitious, was done in 2007 and they already knew that tests would be coming.

the car industry knows this for eight years and they have not done anything apart from cheating with the software that should be addressed -- with the software. that should be addressed. >> thank you, president. a turbodiesel, which i bought after the european standards -- the others were to pollutant. i had to go to volkswagen. volkswagen is the first and foremost car manufacturer in the world at the moment. if mrs. merkel, who commands the whole globe, i wondered she should explain to me how this all works. could she come here and tell me what has happened?

did she not know what is going on with volkswagen? did she or not? i think, in the history of europe -- >> i don't think that the t-shirt you are wearing is apt to this. apt for thisis not at all. >> dear colleagues, the is anagen scandal environmental one but also a political one. we need to find the number of cars circulating with this software and we are also wondering whether volkswagen was

the only company that installed such software and what measures are we to take to this does not happen again. despite the fact that there are connections between volkswagen and the german government. is supportingkel the car industry, but perhaps that might mean that they are also supporting companies that are deceiving the european citizens and the european institution. supporting these companies, despite numerous scandals, at the same time asking for austerity. it is unacceptable to see germany. we have to punish volkswagen as soon as possible. thank you. you, president,

commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. those responsible at vw wanted to save money but they were saving money at the cost of the environment. for ozone inuses the atmosphere and it leads to other health problems. some of the people there are responsible for that. there is an economic cost to that, which of course is outweighed, by far, the money they saved. it has also harms people who are innocent. there, theho work suppliers, and the consumers. i think they need to be punished, those who are responsible. , the ceo, still makes a claim for his bull pension and in the -- his full

pension, and in the volkswagen group he is still active. how come they had uncovered this fraud when there are 8 million active in the eu and only 400,000 in the u.s.. ? use a bit of energy, not just rely on the national authorities. just denigrate diesel. some people use it because they drive for long distances. in economic terms, i don't think we can just leave diesel behind. terms, we needl to look at making it clean. it is possible. if vw kept euro 6, it would be fine. the euro 5 was the problem.

the final point, we need to think of local authorities as well. please? you wind up >> thank you, president. we are dealing with a series of scandals here. the fraud perpetrated was a scandal. invest the investigated and perpetrated -- investigated and -- investigated. we have to rely on the u.s. to reveal what is happening. thater scandal is the fact the epa did not notify the european condition -- the european commission, or indeed, it is a scandal if the european commission was notified and kept still. we would like to hear from you,

our commissioner, as to what exactly happened here. as for the other issues that arise, we need to put an end to lab-based tests alone. we need real-life tests that are actually reflective of what happens on the roads. road tests will not be enough. we live in a digital world. we have so many different software devices. it is not enough to have on road testing. we need to look at the various software that can be installed. commissioner, i would be interested to know what you plan to do along these lines. you did not mention anything about such software in your introduction. that is something we would need to consider as it comes to organizing such tests. >> thank you, madam president.

this is a very complex issue but i want to talk about it very simply from the perspective of the nec vote. this will be at the next session of plenary in a couple weeks time. you might think it closes into disarray. far from it. we know all of this. bit that is a surprise is just quite how devious and criminal volkswagen has been. we know the testing doesn't work. fact, a presentation up from the commission set out quite graphically in numbers how it hadn't worked over the last three iterations of euros standards. this is no surprise to anyone. member who the only is actually pleased this has pleased, because i am and everybody is now talking about one of the major issues,

one of the major scandals that we need to deal with. highlighted our it as itaction with currently stands and we have put into our report that we expect the commission to come up with new proposals on approval that actually work in real life, immediately. it is with some disappointment because while she is not personally responsible, she would have had the opportunity here and now

>> it would limit our ability to train, advise and assist, yes, sir. >> okay. mr. smith. >> thank you, mr. chairman. can you talk to us in general about the relationship between afghanistan and pakistan and the various groups that are involved there? i guess related to that is the conversation about reconciliation talks between the taliban and afghan government. first of all, what hopes do you have for that? second of all, no matter what

comes out of that, there will always be groups on both sides of the border that aren't part of it. what's sort of your -- tell us a little bit about the groups who might be involved, who might be reconcilable who we might still have to fight and how the relationship between afghanistan and pakistan factors into those negotiations? >> thanks for the question. as you know, very conflicted between pakistan and afghanistan. i do try to maintain ties with pakistan. i talk to general sharif probably once a week. i try to get to pakistan once a month. we really work hard to make sure the afghans and the pakistan military conduct discussions to continue to improve upon their ability to fight the same common enemy on that border. reconciliation is going to take time, sir. it's going to take both afghanistan and pakistan working together, although president ghani has said many times that reconciliation will be afghan-led.

he and the rest of the government there continue to work at that very hard. they've had at least one really sanctioned talk and reconciliation that's been out in public, and that was probably back in the june time frame facilitated by pakistan to bring some taliban to the table to talk. working toward a second talk, but that happened the same week that the announcement of mula omar's death, so that stopped that talk. i think reconciliation talks will continue, but it will take the right people to the table to do that. they are currently a little in disarray depending on who is in charge. mula onsur is trying to take charge from his perspective, but there is a lot of other issues with the taliban because they do fight decentralized, but a lot of other factions of the taliban are not following onsur. i think it will take a couple months before we see any kind of peace negotiation, but pakistan and afghanistan realize there

has to be a political solution to this problem, that they're not going to kill everybody. i think president ghani has spent the last several months to try to work it out with pakistan. he has taken a lot of challenges within his own government, but i think he's been courageous with how he's reached out. i think general rahil with his leadership is trying to work it out the same way. this is years and years of mistrust they're trying to work through, but they know they have to get there to come to a solution. your question on who would reconcile and who wouldn't, what i've heard from afghanistan is 50 to 70%. it's reconcilable on the taliban side. you probably wouldn't have a khani who continues to be an enemy that is dangerous to both the coalition and the afghan civilians because they attack civilians. they're the ones responsible for

the high-profile attacks in kabul. hakani probably would not reconcile and there's probably members of aq that would not rec s -- reconcile. but 67% is probably the number. >> mr. jones? >> mr. chairman, thank you very much, and general campbell, thank you, and all our men and women in uniform for the responsibility and also the dedication. y'all are very special to all of us in america. i want to -- in march when you were here, i asked you a question, and this will not be my question, but it leads up to a question. my question was, will there ever be anyone in the diplomatic corps of the military who will say to the president, you know, we have done about all we can do. then one of your answers back to me was this: for very little continued investment, we can make this, meaning afghanistan, the shining light of central

asia and that part of the world. we have spent about $686 billion there since the year 2001. you've already mentioned the number who have been killed and wounded. then recently, we had in the newspaper -- and you've acknowledged one of these -- these titles: u.s. wasted billions of dollars rebuilding afghanistan. that was in the papers back in september. then in october, afghan forces on the run. this was in the "new york times." also in the "new york times," which you have acknowledged, u.s. soldiers told to ignore sexual abuse of boys by afghan military. you know, i think of number 15 or 16 -- i've been here 20 years -- a general of the u.n. army sitting right here telling us what you told us. i believe you, there's no question about that. i believe number 15 who sat