• This Sunday, the citizens of Illkirch-Graffenstaden, a city of 28,000 inhabitants near Strasbourg, are voting!

    A referendum on the circulation of Crit'Air 2 vehicles is organized there.

  • The question is simple: are you for or against banning the circulation of Crit'Air 2 vehicles, clearly the most recent, on the territory of your municipality?

  • Why this local referendum?

    To weigh in vis-à-vis the Strasbourg Eurometropolis, which intends to vote for a Low Emission Zone (ZFE) with a more restrictive schedule than in the rest of France.

A poster campaign, a special issue of the municipal bulletin and a market haul… The mayor Les Républicains d'Illkirch-Graffenstaden and his team have gone all out. No way for them that the 28,000 inhabitants of this city stuck to Strasbourg will miss the local referendum organized this Sunday, June 11. With a simple question: are you for or against the ban on the circulation of Crit'Air 2 vehicles, in other words the most recent diesels, on the territory of your municipality?

"We are the seventh to organize a ballot of this type in France, and the first in Alsace", welcomes Thibaud Philipps, elected for a year. “The idea germinated after the public consultation launched in April. About 2,500 people responded and 86% were in favor of a referendum on the subject. »On a subject that divides and makes a lot of talk in the area.

Because with the upcoming adoption of a Low Emission Zone (ZFE), made compulsory throughout France for agglomerations of more than 150,000 inhabitants, the circulation of certain vehicles will gradually be prohibited. Including Crit'Air 2, which the ecological majority of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis would like to see disappear from 2025 and no later than January 1, 2028. That is to say a faster schedule than what was initially provided for by the Climate and Resilience Act.

The assembly chaired by Pia Imbs even planned to adopt its ZFE project this Thursday, July 8 ... before postponing the vote to September 24.

The fault of the Senate, which has since meddled in the law in question and postponed the ban on the circulation of Crit'Air 2 to 2030. The text must now go back to the National Assembly;

before a next parliamentary shuttle.

"It is very good that all this is postponed because our local referendum will have even more impact", resumes Thibaud Philipps, committing to follow its result.

However, this cannot be adopted if less than half of the registered voters turn out and will become a simple advisory opinion.

"If there are several of us to challenge, we will have to be heard"

But it does not matter for the city council of Illkirch-Graffenstaden who especially hopes to send a signal to the Eurometropolis. “Many mayors of other municipalities are waiting to see what happens and if there are several to dispute, we will have to be heard. “Asked by

20 Minutes

on this subject, the president of the agglomeration Pia Imbs did not follow up. Just like two members of his group, Fabienne Baas and Vincent Debes, respectively mayors of Ostwald and Hoenheim.

"Their silence says it all," squeaks Catherine Graef-Eckert, elected Lingolsheim, in the opposition.

“We have been telling them for weeks that we should not rush until the legal framework is fixed […] We are almost half of the mayors of the 33 municipalities to have taken a stand against the timetable for ZFE proposed, and I'm sure others disagree either.

There is a huge political divide on this and I don't know of any supportive citizens.

Those from Illkirch-Graffenstaden will have the floor this Sunday.

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  • Diesel

  • Air pollution

  • Strasbourg

  • Referendum