German minister tells carmakers to speed up diesel refits, pay for it

BERLIN: German Enviroment Minister Svenja Schulze urged carmakers to speed up technical refits of diesel cars to improve air quality after the European Commission said on Thursday it was taking Germany to court for breaching air targets.

"If we are to survive in court, we need more and faster progress to make the air clean .. we need (refits for diesel) as soon as possible and at the expense of carmakers as they caused the problem," Schulze said in a statement.

Earlier, the European Commissin said it would take France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Britian to the EU Court of Justice for failing to respect air quality limits.