The S&D Group will today support the set-up of the committee that will investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration of EU law, following the scandal which revealed that devices were installed in cars to distort emission measurements. 

S&D vice-president for sustainability Kathleen Van Brempt, who will be a member of the inquiry committee, said:
 
"In the 'Dieselgate' scandal, there have been short-comings or failures at several stages, both by the European Commission and the member states. It is still shocking that only authorities in the United States were able to discover the fraud.
 
"We want to collect and analyse information to see where the failures were and also whether at some point the authorities had evidence of defeat devices being used for Nitrogen dioxide (NOx) emissions tests. Citizens deserve to know and we expect full transparency. That's the only way to recover trust.
 
"On top of the failures, the Commission neglected its duty to review the test cycles and to adapt them 'if these are no longer adequate of no longer reflect real world emissions', according to the 2007 base regulation. The fact that it took 8 years for the Commission to propose the introduction of a Real Emissions Driving test cannot be justified.
 
"Our intention is to make recommendations, based on the outcome of the inquiry, so that this will never happen again."
 
The Committee of Inquiry will present an interim report within 6 months of starting its work, and a final report one year later.
 
It will have 45 members; out of which 12 are members and 12 are substitute members from the Socialists and Democrats Group:

 MEMBERS

1. Nikos Androulakis (Greece), member of the Environment Committee (ENVI)
2. José Blanco López (Spain), member of the Industry (ITRE) and Transport (TRAN) committees
3. Miriam Dalli (Malta), member of ENVI and ITRE
4. Seb Dance (UK), member of ENVI
5. Ismail Ertug (Germany), member of TRAN and ENVI
6. Karin Kadenbach (Austria), member of ENVI
7. Massimo Paolucci (Italy), member of ENVI and TRAN
8. Christine Revault d'Allones Bonnefoy (France), member of TRAN
9. Christel Schaldemose (Denmark) member of the Internal Market Committee (IMCO) and ENVI
10. Olga Sehnalová (Czech Republic), member of IMCO and TRAN
11. Kathleen Van Brempt (Belgium), member of ITRE
12. Carlos Zorrinho (Portugal), member of ITRE and ENVI

SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

1. Lucy Anderson (UK), TRAN and IMCO
2. Nicola Danti  (IT), IMCO
3. Evelyne Gebhardt (DE), IMCO and JURI
4. Theresa Griffin (UK), ITRE
5. Sergio Gutiérrez Prieto (ES), IMCO and EMPL
6. Dan Nica (RO), ITRE
7. Gilles Pargneaux (FR), ENVI
8. Pavel Poc (CZ), ENVI
9. Tibor Szanyi  (HU), ENVI
10. Paul Tang (NL), ITRE
11. Martina Werner (DE), ITRE
12. Flavio Zanonato (IT), ITRE and EMPL

MEPs involved
Head of delegation
Member
Belgium