MEPs aim for public scrutiny in VW inquiry

A Parliamentary committee appointed to investigate cheating around vehicle emissions testing will put those responsible on the stand, MEPs have said, despite having no power to penalise.

The 45-member Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector will investigate whether EU rules have been breached in relation to vehicle emissions testing in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal that broke in September 2015.

The major aim of the group will be able to scrutinise actions taken and make them public, says Fredrick Federley, a Swedish MEP with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group. “I think people will appear [before the committee],” he says, adding that not doing so in light of the scandal’s attention would be politically disastrous.