French National Assembly Votes to Abolish Low-Emission Zones in Economic Reform Bill

The French National Assembly adopted the "simplification of economic life" bill on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, by 275 (votes to 225) — narrow majority approving the simplification bill, enshrining the abolition of Low-Emission Zones in law and delivering a significant setback to French environmental policy. The bill, which had been in parliamentary limbo for two years following a dissolution and three changes of prime minister, also included a relaxation of the Zero Net Artificialization objective designed to combat soil concreting. The text now moves to the Senate, which was set to vote on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The bill's passage marked the culmination of a chaotic legislative journey that began when it was first filed in April 2024, when Bruno Le Maire was still finance minister, before the political landscape was upended by a snap dissolution.

Low-Emission Zones were initiated in France in 2019 and extended in 2021 with the aim of limiting fine particle emissions by excluding older, more polluting vehicles from city centers. Paris had committed to becoming "diesel-free" by the 2024 Olympic Games, a target that required banning Crit'Air 2 vehicles — all diesels registered since 2011. That ambition collapsed through a series of retreats. The ban on Crit'Air 3 vehicles — diesels from before 2011 and gasoline cars from before 2006 — was pushed back three times before being officially activated on January 1, 2025. Despite the ban being in effect for more than a year, no motorist had been fined the planned 68 euros, due to a lack of operational video-fining radars, a prolonged "educational period" that critics said had thoroughly discredited the measure.

Government compromise on local authority choice rejected 192 to 149 Before the final vote on the full bill, the government attempted a last-minute maneuver to preserve a legal basis for LEZs by proposing an amendment that would have given local authorities the free choice to maintain or abolish the zones in their territories. The National Assembly rejected that compromise amendment by 192 (votes to 149) — rejection of the government's LEZ compromise amendment, leaving intact the outright abolition article that had been inserted into the bill via amendments from the National Rally and The Republicans. The rejection drew together an unusual coalition: the RN and The Republicans opposed the compromise from the right, while La France Insoumise and the Greens rejected it from the left, with the Insoumis long having supported LEZ abolition and the Greens considering the amendment inoperative as an environmental measure. Mathieu Lefèvre, the minister delegate for relations with parliament in the Lecornu government, defended LEZs on the floor, arguing they are present in 14 countries of the European Union and citing the examples of London and Berlin. Once the compromise was defeated and the abolition article remained in the text, the RN, UDR, LR, MoDem, and Horizons groups voted almost unanimously to pass the full bill, with the latter two groups publicly hoping the Constitutional Council would subsequently strike down the LEZ abolition article as a legislative rider too far removed from the bill's original scope.

„They prevent thousands of premature deaths (and) have proven their effects” — Mathieu Lefèvre via SudOuest.fr

„Go explain that they need to buy (electric) vehicles for 40,000 euros” — Pierre Meurin via BFMTV

Former ecology minister voices deep regret over the outcome Agnès Pannier-Runacher, a former minister of ecological transition and current member of parliament for Pas-de-Calais, issued a statement expressing strong opposition to the vote. She described the adopted provision as "the end of low-emission zones, the public policy that aims to limit air pollution and its deleterious impact on the health of tens of thousands of French people, especially children," and noted that equivalent measures exist across all major European democracies. „I deeply regret what has just happened at the National Assembly” — Agnès Pannier-Runacher via Franceinfo She added that the outcome ran counter to the interests of French citizens. Her reaction illustrated the fault line within the broader government camp, where a significant portion of Macronist deputies had not wished to abandon what they regarded as an environmental marker of Emmanuel Macron's first presidential term, even as they ultimately lacked the votes to prevent the abolition from passing. The left-wing groups voted against the bill as a whole, characterizing it as harmful to the environment and criticizing the central bloc's inability to sustain a credible ecological agenda.

„These challenges do not go in the direction of the interests of the French people” — Agnès Pannier-Runacher via Franceinfo

Bill exceeds 100 articles, with data centers and advisory bodies also in scope The "simplification of economic life" bill grew substantially during its two-year parliamentary passage, surpassing 100 articles by the time of the final vote. Beyond the LEZ abolition and the ZAN relaxation, the text was designed to cut regulatory burdens on companies, abolish roughly twenty consultative bodies according to Ian Boucard of The Republicans, and facilitate the deployment of data centers. The bill's promoters acknowledged it fell short of a comprehensive deregulation overhaul, with supporters describing it as eclectic rather than a transformative reform. The RN framed the LEZ abolition as a social justice victory, with Pierre Meurin calling the zones a "separatist device that deprives the most modest French people, under the pretext that they pollute urban air, of access to large cities." The association "40 millions d'automobilistes" called the outcome a "historic victory," while the environmental association Respire described it as an "unprecedented sanitary setback," with its president Karima Delli denouncing the signal it sent on public health priorities.

LEZ abolition vote outcomes: Full simplification bill (before: Pending, after: Adopted 275 to 225); Government compromise amendment (local authority free choice) (before: Proposed, after: Rejected 192 to 149)