Creation of an information mission to the Assembly on "Zero net artificialization of soils"

The chair of the sustainable development committee, Sandrine Le Feur (Ensemble pour la République), should be a candidate to be co-rapporteur of the mission, with a deputy from the centrist Liot group, according to her entourage.

Speaking to AFP, the Finistère MP said she was "very worried about Michel Barnier's positions during his general policy statement, very worried about the positions of the Republicans and the Senate on this subject".

"I understand the difficulty of local elected officials but in no case do I want to go back on the objectives of Zero Net Artificialization," she said. "Today we have artificialized enough and we are able to do with what we have," she pleaded.

Included in the 2021 Climate Law, the ZAN aims to stop urban sprawl by 2050.

By this date, any new urbanized area must be compensated by the renaturation of an equivalent area.

An intermediate objective provides for halving the rate of artificialization by 2031 compared to the period 2011-2021.

But a Senate report released at the beginning of October calls for abandoning the target set for 2031, which is considered "unattainable".

During his general policy speech, Prime Minister Michel Barnier said he was in favour of a new development in regulations.

"We must develop the 'zero net artificialisation' regulation in a pragmatic and differentiated manner to meet the essential needs of industry and housing," he told MPs.

The president of the LR group in the Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, is a declared opponent of the ZAN, which he considers "ruralicidal". In September 2023, he announced that the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, which he then chaired, was "withdrawing from the ZAN process", attracting the wrath of environmentalists and the government.

Once the co-rapporteurs have been appointed, in about two weeks, the mission will have six months to submit its report.