The European Commission defends itself from the accusations made today by the Financial Times, however partially admitting its own "faults". The English newspaper this morning published a report dating back to 2013 from which it is clear that the EU had already been aware of the discrepancies in terms of emissions for two years between the test results of the car manufacturers and the road tests.
In detail, FT has revealed that the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potocnik, in February 2013 wrote a letter to the then commissioner of industry Antonio Tajani, pointing out the problem to him and even considering it the main cause of the failure to achieve the values set as an objective by the Union.
The EU Commission admitted knowing that "laboratory tests do not accurately detect the amount of nitrous oxide emitted during actual driving conditions", but added that the recorded discrepancy could be due to "many factors", not necessarily fraudulent, as has instead emerged in recent months from the Volkswagen scandal.
Community sources underlined today that the discrepancies that emerged from the tests "have never been a secret" and that the Commission "has repeatedly raised the alarm on studies and speeches". In the past but there was no proof that they resulted from a real fraud.
Volkswagen admitted just last September that it used software on diesel vehicles that could make lower-than-real emissions controls appear on 11 million cars globally.
