The sentences come without warning. And at any time, they always come as a surprise. In the case of the one issued last Tuesday by the High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM), it was no exception. The judges ruled in favor of the municipal group of Vox in its crusade against the Low Emission Zones throughout the municipality of Madrid. In this way, the so-called Centro District, Plaza Elíptica and the most recent, Madrid Low Emission Zone –which next year will also prohibit access to the city to residents with vehicles without a label–, were cancelled. All of them, the work of the City Council, which is presided over by Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida.
Caution is the predominant note in Cibeles, but the truth is that the countdown has already begun. The 30 days in which the City Council can file an appeal before the Supreme Court have already started. However, both Martínez-Almeida and the delegate for Mobility, Environment and Urban Planning, Borja Carabantehave agreed on the tone of the message in the last two days: this is a legal matter, not a political one, and therefore, it will be the legal services of the City Council that decide whether it is “viable” or not to appeal. In any case, the deadline expires on October 23. Carabante himself has said that this week it will be announced whether Cibeles will fight back or not.
If the City Council appeals the decision of the TSJM, an unpredictable path would open up. But the truth is that There is a precedent with more than one similarity which allows speculation on the development of events. And this Tuesday was not the first time that the courts have “overturned” a Low Emission Zone in Madrid. Of course, with different actors.
In May 2021he Supreme Court issued a ruling: Madrid Central, the low-emission zone approved by Manuela Carmenawas annulled. The Supreme Court thus responded to an appeal, in this case filed by Ecologists in Action, Following a contrary ruling by the TSJM to Madrid Central, due to the fact that it included “formal defects” in its processing. It so happens that one of the actors who appeared as plaintiffs against Madrid Central was the Municipal Group of the PPsince the party appeared when it was still in opposition.
From the time the TSJM issued its ruling until the Supreme Court’s decision, three months passed during which, as is happening now, the feeling was that of a legal “limbo”. But it was just that: a feeling, since, while the ruling is not final, the ZBE remains in force. The mayor said this three years ago and he said it now after Tuesday’s ruling: Fines will continue to be imposed on gasoline cars manufactured before the year 2000and diesel vehicles prior to 2006 that enter the banned areas. A scenario in which the City Council does not consider reimbursing the money from the fines of the last three years – it was in September 2021 when the Distrito Centro zone was launched.
Thus, in 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the annulment of the TSJM mainly for two reasons: Carmena’s ZBE had not complied with the “public information” procedure» and it didn’t count either with an economic report on the impact of its implementation. The City Council headed by Martínez-Almeida was very careful to comply with the first with the approval of Distrito Centro. As regards the economic report, it seems to be the Achilles heel of the capital’s mobility ordinances.
As Carabante explained on Tuesday, it is not the same case. As for Carmena’s Madrid Central, The Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the Ecologists because said economic report was non-existent. In the case of Distrito Centro, the TSJM considers that the impact reflected by the Madrid City Council is “insufficient.” They believe that further development was required when making an “appropriate assessment of the balance of benefits and costs and the possibility of adopting less restrictive measures with equivalent effect.” And the fact is that, in the TSJM ruling, one word is frequently repeated: discriminationIn this case, the judges state that the most restrictive measures affect people with lower economic capacity, who are “impeded or seriously hindered” in their possibilities of accessing new vehicles that comply with environmental requirements.
This situation, in any case, will occur if the City Council appeals. Something that would be expected, taking into account that the ZBE approved by Almeida have led Madrid to have the best air quality data in its history.