For years, the Walloon and Flemish governments have been working on far-reaching plans to rapidly green the Belgian vehicle fleet. Now that the elections are approaching, they can all go into the trash.
The doubts among the weblogs about the Walloon LEZ and the Flemish EV plans were justified. We don’t even have to wait for the upcoming regional and federal elections in Belgium to know that all initiators have overplayed their hand, because there will be no Walloon LEZ and no sales stop on new ICE cars in Belgium from 2029.
Two lines through it
Let’s start with the Walloon low-emission zone, a story that has been upsetting millions of people south of the Sambre and Meuse since 2019. First the deadline was postponed (due to the pandemic) until 2025, but now it appears that the gradual ban on cars without or with an old Euro standard will not happen at all. Simply classified vertically, under the impulse of a French-speaking politician who wondered at the beginning of this year whether critical scientific thought had been given to that decision. Not so, which is why the decree has now been voted down unanimously. This is not only good news for Walloon citizens with an older car, but also for tourists and passers-by with young and vintage cars.
The proposal to ban the sale of new cars with a combustion engine in Flanders from 2029 has also lost support from the government parties. In the run-up to the elections, the Flemish nationalists of N-VA call it ‘unrealistic’, the Christian Democrats of CD&V ‘not feasible’. Only the liberals of Open VLD still like it through initiator Lydia Peeters, Flemish Minister of Mobility. Perhaps it will remain a fantasy that is included in the climate plan, but is not incorporated into a decree and is therefore not legally valid. The socialists of Vooruit think the latter about the whole idea, with which Flanders would somewhat exceed its powers.
No LEZ tightening in Flanders
Now that we are criticizing Belgian mobility concepts that are ineffective, we might as well include the other low emission zones. At the end of April, the agenda for the LEZ of Antwerp and Ghent was tightened, with classic car owners being imposed a day pass system that may be used a maximum of 12 times a year. Cost price? 35 euros per time, but that decision was also recently overturned by the Council of State.
Just like in Brussels, cars older than 30 years and with a vintage registration mark can now enter the LEZ free of charge, provided they are registered in advance. This also applies to Dutch people who visit Antwerp with a vintage car, as shown on the website SlimToAntwerpen.be is explained. For all other euro standards, you will have to look deeply into Google’s eyes, because the further details of such a LEZ are unfortunately determined by the cities in Belgium themselves. Since there will be no general zone in Wallonia, it is only a matter of time before major Walloon cities such as Namur and Liège introduce it themselves – resulting in even more regulation.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl