Barcelona appeals to the Supreme Court the annulment of its low emissions zone with health as an argument

Warning sign for the Low Emissions Zone at one of the entrances to Barcelona, ​​in a file image.Carles Ribas (EL PAÍS)

The Barcelona City Council has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court against the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) that annuls the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE), which since 2020 vetoes the entry to the city of vehicles more contaminants.

The Generalitat and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area have also submitted appeals.

The three administrations place the preservation of public health in the face of the impact of traffic pollution as the main argument to defend the ZBE.

In addition, they recall that the Barcelona model is what has inspired the implementation of these areas in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants throughout Spain, as provided for by the Climate Change Law.

Formally, the appeals have been filed with the TSJC, which has admitted them for processing.

But they still need to be admitted by the Supreme Court, a procedure that can take up to six or seven months.

The resolution could be extended for another year.

Each administration, in addition, has presented six appeals, because there were six citizen and employer associations that presented the same text against the ZBE.

The six plaintiffs announced last Friday that they will request the provisional execution of the annulment dictated by the sentence that proved them right, while the Supreme Court decides whether it is firm or not.

More information

Justice annuls the veto on polluting cars in Barcelona for "excessive"

The arguments of the TSJC room did not question the need to act against pollution or to improve air quality, but the "proportionality" of the measures that the ZBE contemplates to do so, or the "excesses" in the geographical area or the tens of thousands of affected vehicles.

The City Council, the Government and the AMB have appeared jointly to present the resources, as they promised when hearing the sentence: in a common front, they announced a "rain of resources".

The Councilor for Climate Emergency of the City Council, Eloi Badia, has argued that "the main reason to defend the ZBE is the legal imperative of the administrations to protect health".

"This is how we committed ourselves at the last Air Quality Summit or the ISGlobal has reported, which states that premature deaths due to pollution rise to 1,500 people", defended the councilor and celebrated that the ZBE has allowed to reduce a 11% nitrogen dioxide emissions, practically eliminate the most polluting cars and avoid 125 deaths a year.

Badia explained that, in order to "legally strengthen" the Municipal Ordinance that establishes the operation of the ZBE, it will be updated to include legal changes that support these restrictive areas with polluting cars.

This is the case of the Climate Change Law, of Spanish scope, which obliges cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants to create low emission zones.

The ordinance, however, will not modify the operation of the current restrictions.

The idea is to approve the modification before the end of the mandate in May 2023.

The general director of Environmental Quality and Climate Change of the Generalitat, Marc Sanglas, has defended that "the EU contemplates restricting mobility to reduce pollution" also "the proportionality" of the restriction.

“The path of the Catalan administrations is aligned with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the restrictions are fully justified.

The TSCJ puts economic rights above life or health”, he summarized before warning: “There will be no ruling that will make us go back, neither in Barcelona nor in the City Councils with more than 20,000 inhabitants”.

The appeals before the Supreme Court come when Barcelona citizen entities have presented a proposal for an urban toll to further tighten vehicle access to the city.

You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on