The complaints of many municipalities, especially those of the second metropolitan ring of Barcelona, regarding the obligations that the application of low emission zones (ZBE) will impose have had an effect. The Government of the Generalitat, as reported yesterday by El Periódico and confirmed by sources from the Catalan administration, is willing to make the regulation of this measure more flexible and to delay one year with respect to what was initially planned, the imposition of limitations on the circulation of vehicles with the badge B (yellow label).
In this way, on January 1, 2027, diesel vehicles of the Euro 4 category (models between 2006 and 2013) would begin to be prohibited from circulating in the ZBE, while the circulation of all vehicles with label B would be prohibited. It will be restricted as of January 1, 2028 (before the allegations it was January 1, 2027). Cities such as Badalona, Terrassa, Granollers, Mataró and Sabadell asked to delay the entry into force of the restrictions, since they are some of those with a higher proportion of cars with this label.
The general director of Climate Change and Environmental Quality of the Department of Climate Action, Mireia Boya, confirmed this flexibility of ZBEs in the decree that the Government is expected to approve. This regulation will also include the possibility that in some cases the low emission zones do not have a local scope, but that they are of a supra-municipal nature.
The information published yesterday indicates that the Government of the Generalitat has accepted more than 70% of the allegations of the municipalities grouped in the Arc Metropolità association, whose mayors have led the opposition to the application of the ZBE as initially proposed. The Arc Metropolità is made up of nine city councils with a population of nearly 900,000 inhabitants: Granollers, Mataró, Martorell, Mollet del Vallès, Rubí, Sabadell, Terrassa, Vilafranca del Penedès and Vilanova i la Geltrú. Likewise, the Government would have accepted more than 80% of the allegations from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.
Negotiations on the final content of the ZBE regulation are not yet closed. The Government's objective is to achieve the maximum consensus around a regulation that has been the subject of controversy since it began to be applied within the perimeter marked by the Barcelona roundabouts and that in this case even suffered a judicial setback that forced the ordinance to be reviewed. . The Government seeks above all the agreement with the PSC, which next week will formulate its proposal through a motion in Parliament to which ERC will most likely give support.
The possibility of applying ZBE that transcended the limits of a single municipality would allow these zones with limited traffic of polluting vehicles, which at first had to cover 25% of the residential urban land, to finally cover 25% of the land of the entire area. considered supramunicipal. Where it does not seem that the Government is going to admit making the regulations more flexible is to accept exceptions to it for residents. Yes, there will be them for people who can prove low income and always with prior authorization.
