Misunderstood, discriminatory or useless, m-ZFEs regularly provoke strong reactions, both from citizens and from the communities responsible for setting them up. Following the senatorial consultation launched in April 2023, which received a large majority of unfavorable opinions, the Senate is issuing a new report aimed at improving the effectiveness of m-ZFEs.
While the Climate and Resilience Law of 2019 imposes the creation of a ZFE-m in all agglomerations of more than 150,000 inhabitants before December 31, 2024, the rapporteur Philippe Tabarot (LR) recommends setting the deadline for January 1 2030.
A financially inaccessible measure
According to him, it would be “essential to give more leeway to agglomerations” and proposes to leave them the possibility of opting for alternative measures. The senator also warns that by excluding more than a third of vehicles circulating in large cities within a year and a half, this risks “inevitably to deepen social and territorial fractures”.
In addition, Philippe Tabarot notes the insufficient support from the State, as well as the weakness of the alternative transport offer. He does not fail to point out the financially inaccessible nature of the acquisition of a vehicle deemed clean and therefore wishes to strengthen aid for the most modest households via a one-stop shop. Today, you have to contact different organizations to benefit from all the existing aid, which makes the task particularly difficult.