Portugal’s outgoing Minister for the Economy, Pires de Lima, said that the government has no reason to doubt or to be anxious about the investment by Volkswagen in Portugal’s Autoeuropa plant.
"We have no reason to be anxious about this investment as it has always been considered by Volkswagen as essential to the development of its business," said Pires de Lima when asked by journalists about possible impact of the VW scandal on the Portuguese plant.
The minister said that Volkswagen made "a generic announcement about its responsibilities and that between January and December 2016 it will recall and rectify all engines of all the vehicles that have engines fitted with fraudulent kit."
A working group set up by the government is to ensure the proposed actions by the German group actually take place.
VW’s Autoeuropa factory builds the Volkswagen Eos, Scirocco, Sharan and the Seat Alhambra.
In March 2014, the group announced an investment of €670 million to creating more than 500 jobs between 2014 and 2019.
On September 18, the United States Environmental Protection Agency accused Volkswagen of distorting engine performance and CO2 emissions by using special software to cheat official tests.
Volkswagen then acknowledged it had falsified data and announced that 11 million vehicles worldwide will be recalled, unlike chief executive Martin Winterkorn who resigned.
Comments
Presumably, when P de L made his first announcement, suspecting that he would be on the way out of the 'cabinet' following the election he had earlier returned to his old stamping ground - the drinks industry. Or at the least, the drinks cabinet in his office.
It is definitely different here ! So little connects with reality. Having to deconstruct everything that is said or done to work out if the energy behind it is anything to do with someone trying to save face - theirs or Portugal's.