The French National Assembly voted to eliminate low emissions areas, a key measure introduced during President Emanuel Macron's first term to reduce pollution in the city.
The so -called ZFES (Low emissions) are criticized that they hit those who cannot afford less polluting vehicles hardest.
A handful of Macron MPs joined the opposition parties on the right and far to the right, voting 98-51 to scrap the areas that are gradually expanding in French cities since 2019.
The proposal was presented by Pierre Meurin from the far -right national rally and supported by some motor organizations.
But it was a personal victory for the writer Alexander Jardin, who created a movement called #Guex (Beggars)., Arguing that “ecology has become a sport for the rich.”
“Everyone played their role in the vote. MPs voted either for the end of this nightmare or abstained,” he told the Le Figaro newspaper.
“They were afraid of returning to their electoral areas if they had voted against the removal of ZFES.”
Low emission areas began with 15 of the polluted cities in France in 2019 and until the beginning of this year were expanded to each urban area with a population of over 150,000, as a ban on cars registered before 1997.
Those produced after 1997 need a round Crit'Air sticker to drive in low emissions areas, and there are six categories that match different types of vehicles.
The largest restrictions are applied in the most polluted cities, Paris and Lyon, as well as in Montpellier and Grenoble.
They have become something like a lightning for Macron's opponents.
Marine Le Pen condemned ZFES as “without rights” during her presidential national rally campaign in 2022, and her communist colleague warned of a “social bomb”.
The head of the right -wing Republicans in the Assembly Laurent Voukies talks about “the release of the French from a suffocating, criminal ecology”, and in the final left, Clémence Guetté said green policies should not be imposed “on the back of the workers' classes”.
The government tried to leave the uprising on Wednesday night, watering the restrictions, but also maintained areas in Paris and Lyon. This change was defeated by a big margin.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister of Green Transition, told MPs that “air pollution is behind nearly 40,000 premature deaths a year … and low-emissions have helped to overthrow (this number).”
Greens and socialists also voted to maintain the zones.
Green Senator Ann Suiris told BFMTV that “Zfes also means killing hundreds of thousands of people,” and socialist MP Gerard Leseul said the vote sent a negative signal as it did not deal with the reduction that had to be made to the air pollution levels.
The removal is expected to pass through the upper house, the Senate of France, but it still needs to be approved in a broader bill in the lower house in June and will need to be approved by the French Constitutional Council, which is not guaranteed.