This time there will be no going back. The Council of State gave the government two months on Thursday to take the decree setting up the technical control for motorized two-wheelers, in accordance with a European obligation that France has always been reluctant to apply.
Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune reacted immediately, stating that the government would apply “of course the decision of the Council of State” and that he himself would specify “in the coming days the timetable and the methods of the technical control”, in a communicated.
At this stage, the exact date on which the motorcycles and scooters will be subject to technical control in France is not known.
Macron did not want to “bother the French” before the presidential election
The highest administrative court, which was seized in summary proceedings (in an emergency) by several associations fighting for air quality and road safety, enjoins the government to “take the decree of application of the decree of August 9, 2021 relating the implementation of the technical inspection of motorized vehicles with two or three wheels and motorized quadricycles within two months of the notification of this decision”.
In August 2021, a decree had indeed provided for the start of technical inspection in January 2023 for vehicles registered before 2016, and later for the others. But the next day, at the request of Emmanuel Macron, the government had indicated that it would not apply it, because “it (was) not the time to bother the French”, according to an adviser to the executive.
The associations Respire, Ras le Scoot and Paris without a car had then seized the Council of State according to an emergency procedure to demand the application of the European directive as soon as possible. And, the highest administrative court in the country had agreed with them in May 2022, ordering the executive to apply it from October 2022.
Since then, the government has been planning to pass a light check on two-wheelers, for less than fifty euros, from June 2023, according to a government note consulted by AFP.
“Complicated” to apply?
The applicant associations welcomed the decision of the Council of State, indicating that they hoped that the government “stops backing away from the inevitable introduction of technical control”.
“It has now been two years since Ras Le Scoot, alongside Respire and Paris Sans Voiture, has been fighting to enforce European law that Emmanuel Macron flouts for reasons of electoral opportunity”, slammed the association bringing together citizens “exceeded by the nuisance of motorized two-wheelers”.
The European Commission had imposed in 2014 a technical control in all the countries of the European Union, wishing its implementation from January 2022 for two-wheelers of more than 125 cm3.
Céline Aubrun, coordinator of the national office of the French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC), considered it “complicated” to apply it in such a short time: “As the technical control centers were not necessarily ready, it will be put in place in a hurry, we are worried about such a rapid implementation, ”she told AFP.