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Low Emission Zones put on hold until after Spanish elections
None of the political parties in Spain want to push the issue before the May 28 voting
According to the Climate Change Law, cities across Spain with more than 50,000 inhabitants were required to implement Low Emission Zones (ZBEs) by the end of last year. Only ten cities out of the 149 have managed to comply and now, with the heat of the upcoming elections on May 28, not a single politician in the country is willing to push the matter or impose fines for noncompliance.
Nearly six months after the deadline, practically nowhere in Spain has a Low Emissions Zone, with the notable exception of the likes of Madrid and Barcelona. Ecologists, municipal technicians and business associations are all in agreement that the matter won’t be touched until the polls close.
"There has been neglect by all the local administrations and the Ministry for a purely political issue," complained Cristian Quílez, head of Transport and Mobility at the Ecology and Development Foundation (Ecodes), a non-profit organisation that has been monitoring the non-incorporation of the cities obliged by law to create Low Emissions Zones.
The very idea of limiting traffic in city centres is an unpopular one and politicians are understandably nervous about forcing the issue and losing valuable votes as a result. However, part of the EU Recovery Fund has been specifically granted for the creation of the ZBEs, and Europe will demand the money be returned at some point if the initiative isn’t followed through.
"It is a matter that will be resolved with the elections, what most of the city councils have done has been to postpone it due to the unpopularity that it can generate, although we believe that it could have been counteracted if it had been explained [to the citizens] throughout the last year," Quílez said.
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