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The Government approves the decree so that the municipalities establish the low emission zones

2022-12-27T23:55:59.692Z


The lack of this norm is the argument that most of the 149 municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants have used to not activate the traffic restriction areas


The Council of Ministers has approved in its last meeting of the year the royal decree that regulates the low emission zones.

The 149 municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants in Spain are required to have traffic restriction areas for the most polluting vehicles as of January 1, 2023, as established by the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition.

However, very few will comply.

And one of the arguments used by the mayors is that the Government had not approved the royal decree for the development of those areas, which is why they were asking for a moratorium.

Although the royal decree has not been approved so far, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, which has refused to grant that extra time to the municipalities, argues that the municipalities were aware of the application guidelines since "last November 19, 2021", when The department headed by Vice President Teresa Ribera and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) presented a guide with instructions for implementing this type of measure, which seeks to improve air quality.

Initially, the ministry did not contemplate approving a royal decree and considered that these guidelines were sufficient, but several legal setbacks against the low emission zones of the Barcelona metropolitan area and other cities led to the decision to develop a standard that offers more security to the councilors against the complaints that are presented in the courts.

The text of the royal decree was exposed to the public in April and until now it has been processed.

But the breach of the Climate Change Law is going to be massive.

According to the consultation that EL PAÍS has made to the 149 affected municipalities, only 20 affirm that they will arrive on time to have their low emission zones up and running in January.

Many consistories argued the lack of this royal decree to not comply with the law and others offered free interpretations on the date on which they were obliged to put them into operation (the norm leaves no room for doubt when it establishes that it must be "before 2023") ).

More information

Only 13% of cities will meet their obligation to have low emission zones before 2023

Ecologists in Action, which from the beginning had asked that these areas be regulated through a royal decree, criticized the attitude of the mayors.

"The city councils knew for more than three years that they should approve their low emission zones, because all the drafts of the law [definitively approved in May 2021] established it that way," explains Carmen Duce, from this environmental organization.

In addition, this activist recalls that the municipalities have even had 1,500 million euros of European funds to develop this measure.

Despite that, non-compliance is going to be widespread.

Ecologistas en Acción, like other conservation organizations, criticize the electoral background behind this disobedience to the law: many mayors believe that approving traffic restrictions will take away their votes in the May municipal elections.

"We are talking about human lives, about health," Duce complains about the attitude of the councillors.

The FEMP, chaired by the socialist Abel Caballero, mayor of Vigo, has requested a moratorium on the ministry on several occasions since last summer.

But, after publishing EL PAÍS at the end of October that only 13% of the 149 affected had the intention of complying with the law, the Ribera department flatly refused to grant extra time, always on the grounds that the councilors had known since 2021 the application guidelines for these zones.

The ministry has explained that the development of the royal decree approved this Tuesday "defines specific and quantifiable objectives" so that low emission zones can be "conveniently monitored and evaluated".

In addition, it "establishes the minimum requirements that these areas must meet in key aspects such as extension, delimitation or access conditions, providing legal certainty to individuals and companies through homogeneous legislation throughout the national territory."

In addition, the ministry has explained that low emission zones "should contribute to improving air quality and mitigate climate change", in addition to helping to reduce noise pollution and promote change in mobility.

"All this will result in an improvement in the health of citizens and the quality of urban life, promoting more sustainable and inclusive mobility with less impact on the quality of the sound environment, and promoting active mobility and the recovery of public space" , sustains Ecological Transition.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-12-27

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