EU rushing to ratify climate agreement
Environment ministers will try to agree this week to speed up the process to sign up to the Paris agreement. Otherwise it would not be present at the table of the signatories at a conference in November.
Investigation
VW: EU's action plan is 'nothing new'
Consumer affairs commissioner Jourova said Volkswagen has "committed to an EU-wide action plan", but the promise contains little news value according to the carmaker itself.
News in Brief
- British PM ran 'shit' Brexit campaign, EU commissioner says
- EU's Georgieva put forward for UN job
- Spain aims to boost company tax receipts
- MH17 report to be released
- EU is paying Barroso early retirement pension
- EU's Brexit task force leader to retire
- No police deal for Denmark, says Timmermanns
- Scotland warns of 'hard Brexit'
Investigation
French diesel committee 'did not cover up for Renault'
A government report could have been more detailed, but it was already more damning in tone than its German and UK counterparts.
Focus
Is the circular economy a restraint on business, or an opportunity?
Waste collection and recycling is going to be ramped up, and that will translate into circular business opportunities.
Commission sets new emissions targets for EU states
Quotas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in sectors such as agriculture or transport will have added flexibility.
Investigation
One year on: Dieselgate keeps getting bigger
One year ago, it emerged that VW had cheated on emission tests in what came to be called the Dieselgate affair. EUobserver looked at how it happened and what the EU did to stop it.
Investigation
EU action on car emissions due next month
“You will definitely see some infringement procedures next month,” said commissioner Bienkowska in Strasbourg on Monday.
Investigation
Unpublished report: Italy's Fiat had high emissions
An Italian report triggered by the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal finds Fiat cars emitting more than double the EU limit. The report was finished in July, but has not been made public.
Investigation
'Unfixing' VW cars: A new trend in emissions tampering?
A year after Dieselgate broke, millions of polluting cars are still on the road. Not everyone will adhere to the Volkswagen recall, and some who did want the cheating software back.
Investigation
Leaked memo: EU commissioner ignored car emissions warnings
A leaked EU memo from 2012 shows that officials warned the office of former industry chief Antonio Tajani on possible illegal car emissions discrepancies, but he did nothing to investigate.
Investigation
Car makers caught out on dodgy EU claim
Carmakers claim they don't know what "normal" driving conditions are in terms of EU law. But their own lobby group already decided 14 years ago.
Investigation
EU encouraged car industry to cheat, French report says
French committee concluded that car manufacturers “systematically” used defeat devices. Market surveillance in the EU was “largely insufficient”.
Investigation
Car lobby complained about emissions tampering by others
The 2012 request is somewhat ironic, considering that it has since emerged some car companies themselves have misled the public about how their cars' emissions filters worked.
Investigation
'Many questions remain' on role of EU in Dieselgate
MEPs' visit to emissions lab in Ispra did not yield a lot of new evidence, inquiry committee chairwoman said, as VW announced billions of euro in profit.
Investigation
US states seek 'substantial penalties' from VW
New York attorney general says his investigation showed "a culture of deeply rooted corporate arrogance" in the Volkswagen Group.
UK inquiry: 'Regulatory failure' helped cause VW scandal
Members of the UK parliament said in report that Volkswagen Group acted with “a cynical disregard for emissions limits”.
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Latest News
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Investigation
'Easy to say' EU should have found VW scandal
First former EU commissioner Stavros Dimas appears in front of parliamentary inquiry committee into Dieselgate scandal.
Interview
Meet the man behind the EU's emissions cheating rules
German MEP Bernd Lange wrote the definition of defeat devices in 1997 into EU legislation, but also the exception carmakers use as a loophole.
Investigation
Efforts to clarify EU emissions cheating rules are floundering
The EU Commission has offered to clarify legislation on emissions cheating software, but an apparent communication breakdown with Germany is not helping its cause.
Investigation
Fiat may face €80 fine over emissions cheating
The Italian carmaker is accused of using an emissions-cheating software, but a recent Italian letter to Brussels shows that the potential fine is minuscule.
Investigation
Growing proof that EU suspected diesel fraud
EU Commission always maintained it had no indication VW cheated, but one EU researcher reportedly suspected the use of a cheating strategy in 2010.
Feature
EU and Poland clash over plans to log primeval forest
One of the last patches of Europe’s primeval forests is in danger after Poland approved plans for extensive logging, prompting EU legal action in yet another clash with Warsaw.
Investigation
'VW upper management must have known about dieselgate'
German IT expert Daniel Lange, who was able to find Volkswagen's cheating software by reverse-engineering, said foot soldier engineers had little incentive to report the cheating.
Doctors and NGOs slam EU bill on hormone disruptors
The EU Commission proposes regulating the chemicals under existing laws, but campaigners say the criteria they have used ensures few substances will be controlled.
EU countries resist car lobby on new emissions tests
A new procedure aimed at reducing gaps between laboratory results and reality will be mandatory as of 1 September 2017.
Dutch still aim for air quality deal during EU presidency
“The ambition of the Dutch presidency is to get as far as possible with the file, including reaching a political agreement,” an EU source said Tuesday.
Interview
Learn from US on emissions, says former EPA chief
Europe should increase fines on emissions-cheating software and monitor carmakers more closely, says a former senior official at the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Investigation
EU capitals at fault on emissions, commissioner says
Bienkowska rejects German request to rewrite EU rules on defeat devices used by carmakers. National enforcement is the problem, not EU law, she tells transport ministers.
Germany to patch up EU law on car emissions
Germany has proposed tightening up EU law on technology that controls car emissions. But critics said it's too little too late after the VW scandal.
EU fails to reach weed-killer deal, again
Painful process to agree on use of glyphosate, a weed-killing chemical linked to a cancer scare, could end up with EU Commission taking unilateral action.
