VALENCIA could lose €150 million of European funding for not introducing a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) banning polluting vehicles from the city centre as of January 1, 2026.
The Partido Popular-led coalition with the far-right Vox party has been unable to come up with an acceptable formula for the junior partner to stomach.
Vox says an LEZ limits the freedom of citizens and has been ‘imposed’ by the national government.
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A joint motion over an LEZ had been put forward at Monday’s plenary meeting by the opposition socialists and the far-left Compromis party.
It sought a deal to ‘break the current deadlock to approve a complete and rigorous LEZ’ and to ‘prevent Valencia from losing resources to to make it a prosperous, sustainable and European city model’.
It was the third successive plenary meeting where no agreement could be reached.
Verbal blows were traded between the political parties during Monday’s debate, with Maria Perez from the socialists accusing the PP of not wanting to negotiate a deal with the opposition and denying that there was ‘an air pollution problem’
She pointed out that the city would ‘lose €150 million’ and that public transport subsidies would have to go.
Valencia’s mobility councillor, Papi Robles, accused the socialists and Compromis of having ‘no intention of negotiating’ a deal over LEZ and said they preferred a ‘political mess’ rather than ‘helping people’.
Vox’s spokesperson Jose Gosalbez, said that LEZs are ‘not a European obligation’ because ‘Brussels asks for air quality, not ideological restrictions’- pointing his finger instead at Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez.
“This is not environmentalism, it is elitism in disguise,” he added.
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