The Wise Men indicate in a press release that “the objective of respecting the limit thresholds remains very distant and is not accompanied by any element allowing these deadlines to be considered as being the shortest possible”.
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The Council of State condemns the State to pay two fines of 10 million euros because, despite certain improvements, the limit thresholds for air pollution by nitrogen dioxide are still exceeded in several areas of France, in particular in the agglomerations of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, he indicates in a press release Monday, October 17, 2022. In total, he has been sentenced to 30 million euros in penalty payments for the moment in this case.
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While acknowledging the measures taken in the transport and building sectors, the Council of State notes that they have not yet had any positive impact in terms of figures in the three largest French cities. He also believes that the “low emission zones” (ZFE) provided for in the Climate and Resilience Law of August 2021 are not new, some having been put in place even before this law.
He also notes that, although plans to protect the atmosphere have been initiated, “the objective of respecting the limit thresholds remains very remote and is not accompanied by any element allowing these deadlines to be considered as being the shortest possible“.
The Council of State was seized by several environmental defense associations in 2017 and had ordered the State “to implement plans to reduce the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles in 13 areas in France, in order to comply with the European directive on air quality“from that year. Three years later, in 2020, he had judged that the measures taken were “insufficient” and had therefore condemned the State to act, otherwise he would have to pay a penalty payment of 10 million euros per semester One year later, the slowness of the State’s reaction had prompted the Council of State to condemn it to pay a first penalty payment in August 2021, for the delay in the first half of 2021. , this Monday, the two new penalties, for delays in the second half of 2021 and first half of 2022.
The total amount of the penalty payments to which the State is condemned for the delay in its action against air pollution in this file therefore amounts to 30 million euros currently, which will be distributed between the associations which have seized the Council . But this amount could increase further if the delays and shortcomings were to continue. The Council of State will review France’s actions in 2023.