The Flemish government decided to slack off the future ban on Euro 2 gasoline cars and Euro 5 diesel cars in the Low-Emission Zones of Antwerp and Gent, the sole cities in Flanders that actually have a LEZ besides Brussels. Initially due to be effective from January 1st, 2025, the ban will be postponed by one year until 2026. Further restrictions are scrapped until a new evaluation.

For the latest Euro 6 diesel buses of public transport company De Lijn, which would be banned in those LEZs from January 2026, an extra 12 months of delay until the end of that year is granted simultaneously. De Lijn already said it would be impossible to replace the buses in time and risked paying an estimated 30 million euros in fines without the extension.

Covid pandemic

Flemish Minister for Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA) explained in a press release on Tuesday: “The postponement gives residents a year of extra time to adjust and allows for an orderly implementation as the original calendar did not take into account the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, and the unprecedented inflation figures.”

That original calendar foresaw a ban on Euro 2 (gasoline) and Euro 5 (diesel) cars from 2026. Those cars get a stay of execution until the end of 2026. Further restrictions on that calendar planned for 2027 until 2030 are scrapped. End of 2026, there will be a new evaluation on the state of air quality in the city and the effects of the LEZ to decide about further steps.

No coincidence?

That might not be a coincidence as the Antwerp city council already warned in June of this year it doubts the further tightening of the low-emission zone (LEZ) from 2028 onward. And the Antwerp mayor, Bart De Wever, happens to be also President of N-VA, the party that delivered the Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon and Minister Zuhal Demir, among others.

Ultimately, it will be up to the city councils of Antwerp and Ghent to decide when they will apply further restrictions. Until now, the calendar in Ghent and Antwerp foresaw a ban on Euro 6 (6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d-temp) diesel cars from 2028 and for today’s ‘cleanest’ Euro 6d-cars from 2031.

For gasoline cars, Euro 3 would be banned from 2028, and Euro 4, 5, and 6 from 2035. The same rules apply to plug-in hybrids as for gasoline and diesel cars. According to Zuhal Demir, the Flemish government proposes a timeline for the cities to ban diesel passenger cars and vans from the inner cities in 2031 and gasoline cars from 2035.

Stay of execution for De Lijn

At the headquarters of De Lijn, a sigh of relief must be heard; when the news broke their Euro 6-buses get a stay of execution until the end of 2026. Eventually, Minister Demir didn’t favor granting them a delay to make public transport in the inner cities zero-emission by 2026. But delays in deliveries of electric buses worldwide pleaded for De Lijn.

“It is no secret that the delay in global markets is causing a significant delay in the delivery of ordered e-buses, both at De Lijn, its operators, and in the rest of Europe,” the public transport company reacts.

The Flemish coalition agreement stated that there should be emission-free public transport in cities by 2025. To achieve this ambition, 70% of the fleet should be replaced by then, and the charging infrastructure in the 138 depots should also be installed at an accelerated pace.

Known for a long time

However, according to the director general of De Lijn Ann Schoubs, that isn’t possible. Something that has been known for some time because the greening of De Lijn’s fleet kept dragging on in recent years. In 2017, for example, De Lijn purchased another 55 diesel buses of the Euro 6 diesel standard.

Until now, according to the LEZ rules, these Euro 6 buses would no longer be allowed to enter Ghent and Antwerp as of 2026. For De Lijn, this could lead to an estimated 30 million euros in annual fines.

De Lijn is struggling with an aging vehicle fleet with more than 500 vehicles older than 15 years. There is a delay in the influx of e-buses. According to the framework agreement the Flemish government signed with De Lijn, the transport company has to get 228 more e-buses in 2024, 315 in 2025, 391 in 2026, and 567 in 2027.