Recent legislative developments have marked a decisive turning point in the management of urban mobility in France. Yesterday, the Joint Committee officially approved the amendment to abolish Low Emission Zones, initially adopted by the National Assembly in May 2025. This decision is part of the draft law to simplify economic life and responds to growing public discontent since the implementation of these restrictive zones. For many elected officials, this represents a pragmatic recognition of the daily realities faced by households for whom the car remains a means of individual freedom and an absolute professional necessity.
This political victory also belongs to user advocacy groups, such as the 40 Million Motorists association. Its representatives have long denounced a system perceived as punitive, creating spatial and social segregation between hyper-connected urban centers and suburbs dependent on private vehicles. According to recent data on the French car fleet, nearly a third of vehicles on the road are threatened with exclusion in the short term, hitting the most modest households hardest, unable to finance the transition to electric vehicles. The association's president, Philippe Nozière, insists that effective environmental policy cannot be built on exclusion or hindering the right to work.
Beyond the social divide, it was the ineffectiveness of support measures that precipitated this reversal. Despite promises of scrappage bonuses and the development of social leasing, public budgets failed to cover all the needs, leaving millions of French people in limbo. At the same time, the deployment of public transport infrastructure in rural and suburban areas remains too slow to offer a credible alternative to the internal combustion engine car. This recognition of technical and financial failure finally convinced parliamentarians of the need to reverse course to avoid another major social crisis.
However, owners of older vehicles should still exercise caution. While the consensus reached in the Joint Committee is a strong signal, the text must still pass the final stages of the democratic process. Both houses of Parliament will have to give their final approval to the bill in the coming days. Furthermore, the threat of an appeal to the Constitutional Council still looms, as some environmental advocates may argue that this measure violates France's climate commitments and the right to clean air. The saga of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) has therefore not yet reached its final conclusion.