PARIS (Reuters) - France will act harshly on any wayward behavior exposed by an inquiry into German carmaker Volkswagen, Energy Minister Segolene Royal said on Wednesday.
Royal, who announced on Tuesday that France had launched a probe to establish whether VW had also used software that deceived U.S. regulators measuring toxic emissions in some of its diesel cars in France, described the matter as one of "particularly irresponsible fraud".
"We will be extremely thorough, extremely severe," she told reporters as she left a regular French government meeting in Paris.
"The victims are workers whose situation has been made more precarious, consumers who were duped and also the state which pays subsidies for purchases of clean vehicles," said Royal.
She added that she would hold a meeting on Thursday to set the terms of what would be a fully transparent inquiry into VW cars in France.
(Reporting by Brian Love; Editing by James Regan)