Dsince 2017The Council of State regularly condemns the French state for failing to respect air pollution limits in its urban areas. Although there has been progress in air quality in recent years, the fact remains that the state owes millions of euros to a group of environmental associations that have taken legal action.
France was convicted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in October 2019 for failing to comply with the 2008 Air Quality Directive. As a matter of fact, France has “has systematically and permanently exceeded the annual limit value for nitrogen dioxide (NO).2) » and that since 2010.
After this conviction by the ECJ, then that of April 2022, again by this court, France received a formal notice of financial sanctions on February 7th, again for exceeding the NO limits2. France is therefore responsible for not being able to comply with its obligations under the Directive.
To date, the measures taken by the state do not guarantee that air quality will improve to such an extent that pollutant limits will be met in the shortest possible time.
Clubs today, citizens tomorrow
To achieve these objectives and meet our obligations, the authorities have taken a number of measures, however these decisions are regularly challenged by certain local authorities, which has a detrimental impact on the health of the population and results in heavy financial penalties for the public. ‘immediately through all taxes.’
We can also note in this context the confirmation of a challenge to the authority of the State, the executive and the legislative, which has already occurred through the refusal of some communities to ” Zero net artificiality » (ZAN) for land conservation. Without respect for the rules of the game, there can be no democratic organization of coexistence.
For example, what are the consequences for communities that accept responsibility for delaying the establishment of low emission zones (ZFE) while at the same time risking continuing to pay government fines while harming the health of their residents? If at the moment it is mainly associations that bring cases to national courts, it is certain that this will be the case tomorrow Citizens victims of environmental pollution Air will not hesitate to take legal action and accuses the local authorities of negligence in this matter.
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