The dictatorial policies coming from the highest governmental bodies of the European Union include the imposition at all costs of the so-called ZBENobody knows who has decided what direction our continent should take in any area, nor whether this is the right one. However, rulings such as the one recently issued by the High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) highlight the constant abuse to which the average citizen, that is, you and I, is subjected.
As we have learned in the last few hours, thanks to the publication carried out by our colleagues at Europa Press, the Madrid judicial body has annulled the Low Emission Zones (LEZ) of the Spanish capital. The main reason for this decision is the “patent inadequacy of economic impact report” regarding these measures.
Madrid’s ZBEs in the spotlight
It seems that no one remembers when the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, presented the new Environmental Sustainability Strategy with which the city council intended to put an end to Air Quality Plan A, the anti-pollution strategy of the previous local government. It included what was considered the most efficient low-emission zone (LEZ) in Europe: Madrid Central.
Now it is the TSJM who, in response to an appeal filed by the political party VOX, puts the current regulations on ZBE put into effect under the mandate of Almeida and his people on the ropes. In the ruling Ordinance 10/2021, of September 13, is repealed, the same one that modified the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance, approved by the previous Madrid government.
This includes the two Special Protection Low Emission Zones (ZBEDPE) of Distrito Centro and Plaza Elíptica. A decision taken in the face of “the notorious inadequacy of the reports prior to the approval of the ordinance, following the most recent doctrine of the Supreme Court regarding the procedures for drafting municipal ordinances.”
The TSJM ruling emphasizes the obvious harm to those people with less economic capacity, arguing that “are prevented or seriously hampered in their ability to access new vehicles that meet environmental requirements.”
It is also explained that “The important consequences for the economy of a significant sector of the population, the one with the least economic capacity, the most vulnerable to restrictive measures, were not taken into account; nor was the impact on the activity of companies, particularly the smallest ones operating in the market.”
