Governed by the right and the left, the metropolis, which had already postponed from July 2022 to July 2023 this third phase of prohibition, notes that it is "materially impossible" to establish it this summer, in "the absence of tangible responses from the State" on the guarantee of the zero-rate loan and the automated sanction control.

"As long as the government has not advanced, we will not be able to set up our ZFE," said LR President Patrick Ollier at the metropolitan council.

"An EPZ without sanctions will not work," he added, stressing that automated sanction control will not be provided by the state "before January 1, 2025".

"Between the two, there are still the Olympic Games", whose constraints represent "a volcano in our communes", he said, while left-wing elected officials preferred a shorter postponement to January 1, 2024.

The ZFE of Greater Paris, the largest in France with 7.2 million inhabitants, has already introduced a ban on the circulation of unclassified vehicles and Crit'air 5 in July 2019, then Crit'air 4 in June 2021.

The traffic ban on Crit'Air 3 vignettes, which concerns petrol vehicles registered before 1 January 2006 and diesel engines registered before 1 January 2011, had already been postponed for the first time from July 2022 to July 2023.

This key step of the EPZ did not de facto enter into force on 1 July, the right-wing president Patrick Ollier considering himself "legally covered" since "the decision was subject to two conditions that are not met".

Established by the Mobility Orientation Act in 2019 and then reinforced by the 2021 Climate Law, EPZs aim to combat pollution with fine particles and nitrogen oxides, responsible for respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, and at least 40,000 deaths per year, according to Public Health France.

But the government is trying to defuse a highly sensitive subject in an explosive social context.

On Monday, it relaxed the rules for agglomerations where air quality is better, maintaining a binding EPZ for the five metropolises (Paris, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Rouen and Strasbourg) where regulatory air quality thresholds are regularly exceeded.

© 2023 AFP