MEPs question attempt to set penalities for car emissions

Some members of the European Parliament are suggesting the European Commission has overstepped its powers by proposing that car-makers in the future be fined for exceeding EU-set limits for vehicle carbon dioxide emissions.

A preliminary expert opinion prepared for the legal affairs committee in the parliament, obtained by German daily Financial Times Deutschland, says that such fines give the appearance "of a tax for the benefit of the community which the community has absolutely no competence to charge."