The planned driving bans for diesels are understandably causing a stir in Munich, so I’d like to give you a personal assessment.
The green-red coalition did not want these driving bans, even though the CSU claims otherwise. The decision is an impertinence to people, especially in these difficult times. But, and this is a fact: the responsibility for the diesel driving bans rests with the state government of the CSU, which for years has placed the car above the protection of the health of the population of Monaco, has ignored the decisions of the courts and refused all traffic reversal requests for ideological reasons.
For years, the state government of the CSU ran full throttle against a wall called a traffic ban, and shortly before the accident it jumped out and, with a change in the law, forced the state capital to take the wheel.
The CSU used this legal trick for a reason: because it was clear to them that driving bans in Munich could no longer be avoided and they didn’t want to take responsibility for it. Everyone knows this, including the CSU, of course, yet they blame the city hall coalition for driving bans.
In the town hall we did not want to continue to trample on the protection of the health of the people of Munich, as the state government has done. We therefore decided to reduce exhaust emissions and reach an agreement with the VCD and DUH actors. All the experts have told us that it will not work without driving bans on particularly polluting diesel.
There will therefore be driving bans for Euro4 diesel starting February 2023, but with far-reaching exceptions for residents, people with reduced mobility, shift workers, craftsmen, etc. This was important to me and for months I campaigned for it in negotiations. The aim was to proceed in the most balanced and proportionate way possible.
What I hope: that the current debate thinks of the tens of thousands of Munich residents who live along the Mittlerer Ring and who for years have been suffering massively from the highest exhaust emissions in Germany. I was really shocked by the debate in the city council, because these people had no role in the contributions of the CSU. But I think all Munich residents have a right to health and clean air, not just garden city residents.
I know a lot of diesel drivers are angry. But we did not want to continue playing against mobility against the protection of health, as the state government of the CSU has been doing for years. Many other cities in Germany and Europe have taken action in recent years and banned particularly dirty diesel, including Stuttgart, Milan, London, Paris etc. Monaco’s red-green government is now doing what other cities have been doing for a long time to protect people.
As the green-red city hall government, we will continue to push traffic reversal rapidly. And hopefully from autumn 2023 we will also have a new Bavarian state government joining us and no longer blocking things. It is time!
