Volkswagen Scandal: French MEP slams VW lobbyists for going "off the rails"

While the German automaker Volkswagen (VW) has admitted to having illegally rigged more than 11 million vehicles to pass anti-pollution test in the United States, a French Member of European Parliament (MEP), rapporteur in the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament, has denounced, in a statement published Tuesday evening, VW lobbyists for "going off the rails."

"This scandal reveals in broad daylight a major problem over which I had on multiple occasions questioned the European Commission," wrote the MEP Christine Revault d'Allonnes-Bonnefoy in her statement.

Despite the apologies of VW's chief, delivered Tuesday afternoon, the scandal has taken on immeasurable proportions for the German carmaker, which has experienced a historic drop in its stocks.

"Last May, acting as rapporteur for the Socialists and Democrats Group in the Transport Committee of the European Parliament on the proposition for regulation concerning European norms for polluting emissions (called Euro-Norms), I filed a series of amendments in order to guarantee that the results of the tests reflected the emissions in real conditions, and that the carmakers respect the European norms," recalled Revault d'Allonnes-Bonnefoy.

"Despite the pressure exercised by the carmakers, especially VW, on several MEPs to block these dispositions, we were able to pass the amendments thanks to the unity of socialists during the committee vote," she added.

"Tomorrow, it will be up to the Committee on the Environment of the European Parliament to adopt its position before the final vote during the plenary session of the parliament. There again, faced with the lobbying of carmakers to weaken the management of these tests, the MEPs will need to stand firm and send a clear signal to the Commission so that it will take measures in order to improve the tests, to render them more accurate and to sanction cheating," pleaded the parliamentarian.

"These are major stakes on which we can and we must act as quickly as possible. It is a necessity to fight against increased air pollution levels which cause grave problems for public health throughout Europe," she insisted.

Martin Winterkorn, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the German carmaker, who also ran VW from 2007 until 2015 - the same period which covers the six years targeted in the American investigations on the falsification of antipollution test results - offered his apologies in a video published on the company's website.

"I am personally very sorry that we have broken the trust" of millions of people around the world. "I am deeply sorry to our clients, the authorities and public opinion in its entirety for this mistake," he declared in the video.

Tuesday afternoon, the German press had already announced Winterkorn would leave his post before the end of the week. In Germany, the emotion is even stronger, as VW is veritable national symbol.

For German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the carmaker must "show proof of total transparence," and "explain the entirety of the process" that lead to such a scandal. Germany opened an investigation on Monday, in the wake of the American authorities which first broke the revelations.

France, through its Ecology minister Segolene Royal, announced the launch of a "deep" investigation and asked French carmakers to "assure them that such actions have not taken place in France."

For its part, the European Commission judged as "premature" the implication of "measures of immediate surveillance" in Europe. Questioned Tuesday, the Commission responded to not have the power to sanction, putting that role back on European Union member states, and assured that it was "just about to convoke a meeting with national authorities" on the subject. A date for the meeting was not given.

Other countries, like South Korea, Italy, and Switzerland, have already launched investigations. Endit