Lyon Metropolis. "A bad time for the French": Bruno Bernard angry after the vote to abolish ZFEs

"Last night, it wasn't just the abolition of low-emission zones that they voted for. It was their own irresponsibility." On X, Bruno Bernard , president of the Lyon Metropolitan Area, did not mince his words in response to the vote to abolish low-emission zones in the National Assembly, as part of the debates on the "Simplification" bill.

Contacted by Le Progrès, he described the vote as "irresponsible and populist, against the health of our citizens. It's denying science. That's my reaction, above all. It's a bad time for the French, for science, since ultimately all the progress made over the past twenty years for the environment and health is being unraveled, massacred by increasingly populist policies, including the right, which has completely gone off the rails, with the support of a few media outlets under economic influence. After all, we're only at the beginning of the parliamentary process for this law. I naturally call for it not to be passed. A battle is only lost when it has taken place."

Asked about what's next, Bruno Bernard replied: "We'll see. A lot can still happen. The government has not taken responsibility, has not sufficiently supported the implementation of the ZFE. It bears a very heavy responsibility. France is going to have a big problem with Europe, with serious financial consequences, since it will not respect a number of European provisions for which it had been condemned. The ZFE was, moreover, a response to this condemnation."

He added: "In any case, our very strong public action against air pollution will continue. We will continue to protect residents from the ravages of air pollution. This vote is to deny what doctors and cancer specialists in France tell us. Air pollution has a catastrophic impact on life and health. We lose 15 months of life expectancy in the country because of it."

In a very long message on X, the elected official reiterates his support for the reduced traffic zone system: " The ZFE, by limiting the circulation of the most polluting vehicles, were designed to protect our residents at all times. Eliminating these zones means accepting that these figures, these lives cut short by several months, these deaths, will increase again. It means choosing to consider health as a secondary priority in the face of discontent amplified by simplistic discourse."

Replacing wood heating, connecting to district heating, developing clean industry and investing in public transport – he lists the ecological transformations made during his term as head of the Metropolis.

The environmentalist supports his remarks by developing the results of support in the ZFE since 2020 in the Lyon Metropolis: " Since 2019, we have reduced NOx emissions by 22% and fine particles by 11%. For the first time this year, the Lyon Metropolis has fallen below the European pollution threshold, a historic advance that makes us the metropolis in the region that reduces its emissions the most."