ZFE du Grand Paris: Pécresse asks for a new postponement of 18 months for individuals

Europe 1 with AFP 15:37 pm, March 30, 2023

The LR president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse asks for a new postponement of 18 months, for individuals, of the next stage of prohibition of circulation of the most polluting vehicles in the low emission zone (ZFE) of the metropolis of Greater Paris. Already postponed for the first time from July 2022 to July 2023, the ban on the circulation of cars displaying a Crit'Air 3 sticker in Paris and its inner suburbs could again be postponed by the Greater Paris metropolis, which has jurisdiction over this project to combat air pollution.

A further postponement of 18 months

The subject, politically burning because of the costs of replacing vehicles for individuals and professionals, must be addressed at the next council of the metropolis, led by the elected right-wing Patrick Ollier, on April 14. "We cannot consider that it is socially possible and acceptable to move to the stage of excluding Crit'air 3 vehicles in July 2023 for individuals," Valérie Pécresse said Thursday in the regional council.

The president of the region, who does not have control over the project, but proposes in particular aid for the change of vehicles, asks the metropolis to "take into account the social constraints of the families of Ile-de-France" and therefore "to postpone for 18 months the implementation of the ZFE for individuals". On the other hand, the calendar for professionals must remain "unchanged", says the former LR presidential candidate. "This high-emission zone must not turn into a highly excluded zone, at the risk of accentuating territorial and social divides," said Ms Pécresse.

>> READ ALSO - What is an EPZ, a low emission zone?

A "permanent vagueness" on the subject

The PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has promised the end of diesel in 2024 and combustion vehicles in 2030 in the capital. In an interview published Thursday by AFP, Anne Hidalgo said her opposition to a new postponement for the ZFE and asked President Emmanuel Macron to "take responsibility" to support motorists "who can not today acquire an electric or low-polluting car".

For Ms. Pécresse, the "permanent vagueness" created by the government on the subject "prevents Ile-de-France residents from projecting and calmly anticipating the financial impacts" of the ZFE. To date, 11 metropolises, the first of which were Lyon, Grenoble and Paris, have their EPZs with different calendars. But in February, the Métropole de Lyon announced the "relaxation" of the schedule of its ZFE and "the overhaul" of its extension project.