For the second time, French MPs have voted in favour of abolishing Low Emission Zones (LEZs), designed to ban the most polluting cars from large urban areas.
Two successive laws, passed in 2019 and 2021, provided for the creation of LEZs in large urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants. The zone would be off-limits to the most polluting cars, identified by a classification based on their age.
Since its creation, the scheme has been controversial because it effectively excludes the poorest sections of the population, who are unable to change their older cars to purchase less polluting vehicles. Voices on both the right and the left have been raised against the risk of ‘spatial segregation’ that could take hold under the guise of a climate emergency.
Several cities have already suspended the implementation of LEZs or delayed their introduction, some indefinitely. Behind these local decisions is the fear of a revolt by motorists who, since the yellow vest protests, have been very unhappy with the restrictions imposed on their freedom of movement.
In March, a first offensive against LEZs consisted of a special committee that voted to abolish them as part of an overall draft law “on simplifying economic life.”
On Wednesday, May 28th, LEZs suffered a further setback with the adoption of an article introduced by Rassemblement National (RN) MP Pierre Meurin, clearly calling for their abolition. The article was passed by a coalition of right-wing MPs—RN and its allies—joined by MPs from the Left and even Macronist parliamentarians.
However, the vote on May 28th does not mean that the much-maligned zones will be completely abolished. The article is just one of many in a much broader bill aimed at simplifying economic life, which is being examined in several sessions due to its considerable length. MPs will not have finished examining the 600 amendments it still contains before mid-June: until then, the LEZs are therefore only on hold. Furthermore, even if the bill is passed in its entirety, the article will also have to be approved by the Senate, which is not guaranteed at this stage.
Nevertheless, the adoption of this article is a cruel rebuke to the government, which is desperately trying to impose these zones through various means. Faced with mounting protests, the minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, attempted to advance an amendment aimed at limiting mandatory LEZs to the Paris and Lyon conurbations only, but it was overwhelmingly rejected.
