Spain’s State Prosecutor’s Office has focused its attention on low emission zones (LEZ) in around 150 Spanish councils to check whether restrictions for the most polluting vehicles comply with current environmental legislation requirements. The public prosecutor has requested documentation administratively from Catalunya’s regional government, which holds environmental powers, regarding regulations in municipalities with over 50,000 inhabitants.
The aim of this request is to “determine the scope and situation” of LEZs in all municipalities across Spanish territory to analyse possible “breaches” by councils. In fact, according to the prosecutor’s letter, it’s already been verified that “a large number” of localities don’t comply with regulations regarding this matter. In Catalunya’s case, the Directorate General of Climate Change and Environmental Quality is already sending information to the public prosecutor, detailing each LEZ’s implementation status and the characteristics of each municipal project.
One of the questions the prosecutor requests information on is whether vehicles entering the LEZ perimeter without corresponding environmental authorisation are being sanctioned or not. The application of sanctions is one of the requirements the Transport Ministry demanded to grant state aid to municipalities’ public transport. The prosecutor’s heightened scrutiny coincides with some councils showing their intention to break away from certain environmental agreements.
Castelldefels is one case, with Popular Party mayor Manu Reyes distancing himself from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area’s line by approving a moratorium exempting residents from fines until 2030. Badalona is another singular case, where mayor Xavier Garcia Albiol has publicly stated he’s backing a LEZ that works without environmental labels, one of this regulation’s essential conditions.
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