Environment. Air pollution: Will the Assembly approve the end of low-emission zones (LEZs)?

Rectangular signs with a red circle are gradually being installed at the entrances to French cities, but they may already be obsolete. Since January ^1, 2025, 42 cities with more than 150,000 inhabitants have been required to establish a “low-emission zone” (LEZ).

This tool, born in Sweden in 1996 and already in place in 13 other European countries, aims to reduce air pollution , responsible for 40,000 deaths each year in France according to Public Health France . The objective is to exclude the oldest (and most polluting) vehicles from city centers and replace them with more recent models. But the (very) gradual implementation of the system could be stopped dead in its tracks.

On March 26, the ZFE were in fact abolished in a special committee , after the adoption of an amendment tabled by MP Ian Boucard (Les Républicains). "It's a bad measure that comes from a good intention," believes the elected representative of the Territoire de Belfort. "We are all in favor of better air quality, but we must not exclude the most vulnerable populations in metropolitan areas."

Long supported by the National Rally and the 40 Million Motorists association, the protest against ZFEs has recently accelerated on social media following the emergence of the collective "Les Gueux" (The Gueux) by writer Alexandre Jardin. Jardin denounces a "division of the territory into zones of bobo people with clean air and zones of proles, peasants, and low wage earners who are asked to keep to themselves."

Since the vote to abolish the ZFE, the government has been trying to save what can be saved of a mechanism created by the mobility orientation law in 2019. "We are putting forward a simplification amendment which aims to reassure French people," assured Agnès Pannier-Runacher , Minister of Ecological Transition, on franceinfo, before the return of the text to public session at the National Assembly, scheduled for this Friday and Saturday.

The alternative proposed by the government would make ZFE mandatory only for the metropolitan areas of Paris and Lyon, cities where air pollution is most critical, while making them optional in the 40 other major urban areas. "The local authorities that have implemented ZFEs do not want to go back," the minister's office said. "So we want to give them the regulatory option to keep them if they wish."

This ambition is insufficient for environmental associations, who point out that the State has already been ordered to pay 40 million in fines between 2020 and 2022 by the Council of State for "exceeding certain air pollution thresholds."

"The European Union agreed last October that the thresholds for nitrogen dioxide and fine particles will be halved by 2030," emphasizes Clément Drognat Landré, coordinator of the NGO Clean Cities, which opposes the elimination of ZFEs. "Many French cities will be far from reaching them if we don't act. Not respecting these standards puts the population in danger today, with the poorest being the most affected, while risking fines for the State."

The abolition of ZFEs could even have an immediate impact on state finances: France has received aid from Brussels in return for commitments to reduce air pollution, including the establishment of ZFEs. According to the Ministry of Finance, the European Commission could reverse its last payment of €3.3 billion in 2025.

"Deleting without providing any other solution is a problem," stressed Sandrine Nosbé (LFI), who abstained in the committee, like MP Gérard Leseul (PS), who denounced "the State's inconsistency" with "poorly targeted and insufficient aid for middle-class and vulnerable populations."

On May 12, during the "Roquelaure de la qualité de l'air" (Air Quality Roquelaure) – a meeting of elected officials named after the private mansion housing the Ministry of Ecological Transition – local authorities also highlighted the drop in aid for the acquisition of vehicles compatible with ZFE, citing in particular the elimination of the conversion bonus in 2024 and the downward revision of the ecological bonus.

Based on this observation, the Ministry of Ecological Transition is proposing the relaunch of "social leasing" in the fall, a scheme that allows low-income households to obtain an electric car for 100 euros per month. The decree, which will be examined this Tuesday, May 27, by the Higher Energy Council, defines an aid program for 50,000 vehicles, of which "at least 5,000 will be reserved for people affected by a ZFE," explains a source close to the matter. The latter mentions a cost of 369 million euros. Enough to make low-emission zones acceptable to MPs?