You must replace it; the car isn't legal if you don't because the part is a part of the exhaust emission control system, which is required by law to be functional. Going to a van of another make is an ...
If the EGR fails prematurely (within 60k miles) I am telling people to try to claim this as a consequence of the VAG emissions defeat ECU programming. More than 60k, they can get choked anyway an any ...