Leaves EU consumer chief 'desperate' over dieselgate

Volkswagen's cheating led Germany to order an EU-wide recall of 8.5 million Volkswagen vehicles

The European Union’s consumer affairs chief said Volkswagen AG’s failure to compensate EU-based customers hit by the dieselgate scandal has made her feel “desperate.” Vera Jourova vowed to keep pushing for the carmaker to offset the burdens caused by its cheating, saying that VW’s reluctance to go beyond a commitment to provide repairs and more information about vehicles affected is tormenting her. “I tried to explain to Volkswagen that at the end, it will be a win-win if they go for such a gesture,” Jourova, 52, told Bloomberg in an interview in her Brussels office Friday. “Nothing yet” has happened on this front, and the Czech commissioner says she “sometimes feels desperate about this.”

Volkswagen’s cheating, which was uncovered in the US and led Germany to order an EU-wide recall of 8.5 million Volkswagen vehicles, has left policy makers in Europe scrambling to enforce emissions regulations.