We were waiting for his reaction. A few hours after the publication by AFP of an interview with Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, in which she expresses her desire to maintain the calendar of low emission zones (ZFE), Valérie Pécresse replied to her. The president of the Ile-de-France region therefore requests a further postponement, for individuals, of the next stage of banning the circulation of the most polluting vehicles in the ZFE of the Greater Paris metropolis.
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 metropolis of Greater Paris, which has jurisdiction over this air pollution control project.
New consultation on April 14
The subject, politically hot due to vehicle replacement costs for individuals and professionals, must be addressed at the next city council, led by right-wing elected 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”, declared Valérie Pécresse Thursday in the regional council.
The president of the region, who has no control over the project but in particular offers aid for changing vehicles, asks the metropolis to “take into account the social constraints of families in Ile-de-France” and therefore ” to postpone the implementation of the ZFE for individuals by 18 months”.
The calendar for the pros must remain “unchanged”
On the other hand, the calendar for professionals must remain “unchanged”, estimates the ex-candidate LR for the presidential election.
“This area with high emissions must not turn into an area of high exclusion, at the risk of accentuating territorial and social fractures”, argued Valérie Pécresse.
On the other hand, the President of the Region agrees with the Mayor of Paris on the necessary accountability of the State. For the elected official, the “permanent vagueness” created by the government on the subject “prevents Ile-de-France residents from projecting themselves and calmly anticipating the financial impacts” of the ZFE.
To date, 11 metropolises, the first of which were Lyon, Grenoble and Paris, have their ZFEs with different timetables. But in February, the Métropole de Lyon announced the “easing” of the schedule for its ZFE and “the overhaul” of its extension project.