To drive or not to drive. In the city it's a question that increasingly is answered by regulations that dictate what vehicles can go where. Among Brussels residents, the low emissions zone is already a wedge issue that separates car owners from everyone else.
Already the Capital Region has the lowest number of cars per inhabitant: more than half of households have no car at all whereas in Belgium as a whole only a quarter of households don't have a car. And the minority of Bruxellois that drive is shrinking further as citywide measures make alternative transport modes more attractive – something often achieved by clamping down on drivers.
It's not that the LEZ is a crusade against motorised vehicles per se, rather a recognition that air quality matters and public health should not be compromised by the few that drive polluting vehicles. By prohibiting the dirtiest engines from circulating in Brussels, nitrogen dioxide levels have already fallen by over 30%.
But now is not the time to pursue this project to purify the capital's air, say French-speaking coalition partners, who at the start of the month slammed the brakes on further tightening the LEZ. Left unchanged, another engine category would be forbidden from driving in Brussels from 1 January 2025, affecting some 30,000 cars.
Concerned that many drivers would be unable to afford newer vehicles that conform to regulations, three francophone parties who now have a majority decided to put the changes on hold. Much to the outrage of Dutch-speaking parties, who have called it a betrayal of the highest degree and demanded their French colleagues back down.
But the francophone parties are defiant. As far as they are concerned, the LEZ will remain as it is currently until 2027, point barre. But the green Flemish parties fear that to concede on this point will open the door to further backtracking on other efforts to make Brussels healthier and more pleasant. George-Louis Bouchez, leader of the francophone liberal party MR, has taken a characteristically bullish approach and vowed to "put an end to Good Move", the mobility plan that has greatly reduced through-traffic and made streets far safer for non-drivers.
But until a government is formed, making or unmaking legislation will be impossible.
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