Following on the discussion "Where have all the cars gone" this is comment is excellent proof that EU does work and illustrates well how our concerns work in practice. The following is excerpt from "This Week in Europe" published in Liberal Democrat Voice.

The European Commission has warned that new model types of Daimler cars put on the market anywhere in Europe do not conform to EU law and should not be sold …..….EU requires car manufacturers to install low carbon coolants in all passenger cars and light commercial vehicles ….from 31 December 2012 …

German car manufacturer Daimler has lobbied hard to be allowed to continue using HGC134a, an air-conditioning coolant with a global warming potential (gwp) nearly 1,500 times greater than CO2. ……. The Commission made it clear that it expects the German authorities to fully enforce the new regulations as of January 2013.

UK Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who was the ALDE shadow rapporteur on the 2006 MAC directive, said:

"This amounts to a declaration of war on Daimler. The Commission's briefing makes clear that new models using the old refrigerant should not be sold.

"It is widely believed that Daimler is trying to avoid paying extra costs of about €20 per vehicle. If this is the case it was a grievous mistake and the company's revenue could be very severely reduced.

"Car manufacturers have known of the new requirements for more than 10 years, and others have had no problems in using the new refrigerant, and the suggestion that Daimler's cars have been poorly designed can only damage the company's reputation.

"At the debate in the Environment Committee tonight, I will call on Commissioner Tajani to start infringement proceedings not only against Germany but against every EU country that allows the sale of new Daimler models that are not in conformity with the law."