Overview
- Following Tuesday’s 275–225 vote in the National Assembly, the Senate approved the package 224–100 on Wednesday, completing parliamentary adoption of the ZFE repeal.
- The clause abolishing low‑emission zones was added by Les Républicains and the Rassemblement national, and a last‑minute government plan to leave decisions to local authorities was rejected as ministers voiced constitutional doubts.
- Ecologist, Socialist, EPR and MoDem groups say they will refer the measure to the Constitutional Council as a likely “cavalier législatif,” meaning a rider unrelated to an economic simplification bill.
- ZFE, created in 2019 and expanded in 2021 to keep older, more polluting cars out of city centers, seek to cut harmful fine particles, though critics say the rules hit low‑income drivers and small trades hardest.
- Beyond ZFE, the law loosens some “zero net land take” limits, streamlines public procurement, and eases siting for data centers, sharpening disputes over environmental protections in a text that grew to about 100 articles.