Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Romain Doucelin / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 3:27 p.m., February 4, 2024

The president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, Martine Vassal, announced the postponement of the planned extension of ZFEs to Crit'Air 3 vehicles in the center of Marseille. “It takes time, you have to be more tolerant,” she explained.

The extension planned for 2025 of the Low Emission Zone (ZFE) to Crit'Air 3 vehicles in the center of Marseille is postponed "sine die", announced the various right-wing president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis in an interview at

La Tribune Dimanche

. “I have decided not to implement Crit’Air 3, which was to come into force on January 1, 2025 in Marseille. I am postponing it sine die. It takes time, we have to be more tolerant,” explains Martine Vassal .

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A ZFE was set up in the center of Marseille in 2022, first excluding the most polluting vehicles (Crit'Air 5) then the Crit'Air 4. "Not everyone has the possibility of equip with an electric vehicle in such a short time", she adds, recalling that her community has just announced the establishment of aid of 5,000 euros for the purchase of an electric vehicle for residents and traders, means-tested.

The most modest households also the most affected by the extension of the ZFE

The elected official, opponent of the various left-wing mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan, also says she is "absolutely against" the surcharge on SUV parking, an idea validated in Lyon and put to a vote on Sunday in Paris. Marseille is the poorest large city in France and it is trying to make up for historic delays in its public transport network via the Marseille en grand plan launched by Emmanuel Macron.

In December, a study highlighted that the poorest households would be very affected by the extension of the ZFE to Crit'Air 3 vehicles (petrol from 1997 to 2005, diesel from 2006 to 2010). To date, eleven metropolises have started deploying EPZs, each with their own timetable. Their creations result from the mobility orientation law (LOM) of 2019. A generalization in France of these zones is provided for by law by 2025 in the 43 urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants.