The Environment Prosecutor’s Office sent a letter to the Madrid City Council on January 11 in which it proposed a series of guidelines to try to prevent the new low-emission zone that has begun to operate in the capital from sinking. The Public Prosecutor’s Office, for example, suggests that it be the Local Police that bears the weight of the proceedings and that a protocol be drawn up so that this body can act criminally in the most serious cases of non-compliance.
The recommendations of the Prosecutor’s Office are valid for Madrid 360, which restricts vehicle access to the central almond. But they will also be for the almost 150 Spanish cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants that will have to implement low-emission zones from 2023, as established by the new Climate Change Law.
The department headed by prosecutor Antonio Vercher, coordinator of the environmental area throughout the country, monitored the operation of the previous plan for the capital, Madrid Central. And the results were not very encouraging due to the high number of offenders. The investigation of the public ministry was based on the data of offenders and fines imposed between March and December 2019 for breaching Madrid Central. In that period, the Madrid City Council detected 40.5 million accesses. Of all these accesses, 1.6 million were vehicles without an environmental label —petrol cars registered before 2000 and diesel cars before 2006—, which were prohibited from entering the Madrid Central area. Finally, the Prosecutor’s Office located two cases of “constant and systematic infractions” by two drivers, who were reported criminally by the Public Ministry, something that had never happened before. One of them was hunted 157 times entering Central Madrid without an environmental badge in the nine months analyzed by the public ministry. The other, 132 times.
However, shortly after filing the complaint against these two drivers, the justice system annulled Madrid Central, with which all the fines and infractions were also annulled. But the work carried out for that case has now served the Environment Prosecutor’s Office to propose these guidelines to the Madrid City Council, which seek that the Local Police can open criminal proceedings in the most bloody cases. The Consistory has shown the Prosecutor’s Office its intention to also collaborate so that the restrictions are complied with.
The intention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is to send official documents similar to the one that has been sent to the Madrid City Council to other cities that have started up and to low-emission zones, such as Barcelona. In addition, the department of Vercher proposes that the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces establish a committee to establish action strategies and unify criteria, thinking about the massive implementation of zones of this type that will have to be developed during this year to comply with the Law of Change Climate.
This law establishes that all municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants must adopt sustainable mobility plans that, among other things, include low-emission zones similar to those implemented in Madrid and Barcelona. In addition, obstacles are placed on the Town Halls that want to reverse this type of area. Municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants must also approve low emission zones if their air quality is not good.
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Madrid, like Barcelona, have been failing to comply with the legal limits on exposure to nitrogen dioxide for more than a decade. These constant breaches led the European Commission to sue Spain before the Court of Justice of the EU after several notices that were not addressed by the two cities. The decision of the European magistrates is expected to be known during this first quarter.
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