The government is seeking to defuse the “social bomb” of low-emission zones (EPZs), insisting that most will not need to be reinforced. But this discourse is counterproductive, according to elected officials and environmental associations. EPZs must gradually limit access to cities for older vehicles, particularly diesel, to preserve air quality. The law that creates EPZs dates back to 2019, but the debate on their implementation became explosive at the start of 2023.
On Monday, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, wanted to “clarify the applicable rules” and “twiddle the necks of rumours” and “fake news” which describe EPZs as “areas of high exclusion”. In the midst of a purchasing power crisis, ZFEs have indeed become a symbol of the exclusion of the most modest motorists, as less polluting vehicles, hybrids and electric vehicles, are still rare and expensive on the second-hand market.
Several cities have therefore postponed the establishment of EPZs. LR wants to develop them, the RN delete them. Christophe Béchu therefore sought to reassure: a large majority of metropolises will not need to make the EPZs more severe, he argued. And, according to him, these measures do not concern 13 million motorists as claimed by Senator Philippe Tabarot (LR) but much less. “The purpose of these EPZs is not to annoy the French” or to “manufacture ‘Yellow Vests'”, “it is to act on the number of deaths linked to air pollution”, insisted Mr Bechu.
Of the 42 agglomerations that were to create an EPZ in France by 2025, only 11 have implemented it. Mr. Béchu, however, announced on Monday that cities with better air quality would now be categorized “in vigilance zones”. These are 37 agglomerations (among which Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes or Dijon) which must still create a ZFE. But they will only have to prohibit cars registered before 1997 (unclassified), i.e. 326,000 vehicles in all and for all.
Paris, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Rouen and Strasbourg are instead classified as “ZFE territories”. They still regularly exceed regulatory air quality thresholds (40 g of nitrogen dioxide – NO2 – per cubic meter of air). These five cities must therefore continue to gradually apply the restrictions set by law: after Crit’Air 5 in 2023, ban on Crit’Air 4 on January 1, 2024 (diesel cars over 18 years old), then Crit’Air 3 in 2025 (diesel cars over 14 years old and petrol cars over 19 years old). Nearly two million vehicles will no longer be able to drive in these five metropolises.
“The Minister (Christophe Béchu) gives the impression of minimizing the health emergency. It sends a counterproductive message to communities, who will abandon their calendar, and to citizens, who will relax their efforts”, reacted Tuesday to AFP Tony Renucci, director of the Respire association, “it’s a wrong sign”. Air pollution criteria, set at European level, are likely to tighten, and EPZs will have to follow, warns Mr Renucci. “In three to four years, maybe after the presidential election, we will have to take measures again,” he warned.
According to the deputy mayor of Paris David Belliard, “by postponing the ZFE, we are not giving a gift to the poor”. “On the contrary, we continue to make them sick of these pollutants that they keep breathing,” he said on Twitter. “We waste time, again and again!” ” reacted the communist deputy Fabien Roussel on the social network. Once the corners are rounded, the government must present developments in September to make EPZs more “acceptable” for all, said Christophe Béchu.
