Simplification law: in the Assembly, the right and the National Rally are pushing back the "zero net artificialization" (ZAN)

Another setback for the left on environmental issues: under fire from the right and the National Rally (RN), MPs approved new exceptions to the principle of "zero net artificialization" (ZAN) on Wednesday, May 28, as part of the draft law on economic simplification.

By a narrow majority of 105 votes to 97, the National Assembly adopted an article allowing, among other things, the limit of developable natural areas to be "exceeded by up to 30%" without justification. The ZAN system aims to combat the concreting of natural and agricultural areas.

Previously, the right, the National Rally and part of the Macronists had also narrowly passed (77 votes against 75) an amendment excluding from the ZAN count constructions recognized by decree as "projects of major national interest".

This amounts to "completely stripping the ZAN of its substance, and I'm delighted about that," declared RN representative Pierre Meurin. "We no longer want the ZAN. So obviously we're trying to unravel it by any loose ends that may be protruding," his colleague Kevin Mauvieux even asserted.

An objective shared with LR MP Ian Boucard, president of the commission that studied the text, and who claimed to have thus "considerably reduced the ZAN" to "allow for many more industrial projects in our country."

To the great displeasure of the left, which has failed to convince people like environmentalist Nicolas Bonnet that "we need to stop developing and take better care of our environment." Because, as her comrade Lise Belluco argued, "if we don't start restricting ourselves (...) there will be damage sooner or later."

Also opposed to these cuts to the ZAN - born in 2021 from the climate convention convened by Emmanuel Macron - the government could only acknowledge the divisions in its central bloc, which tipped the balance to the right.

The executive nevertheless preserved the initial measure of the article, intended to facilitate the creation of data centers, by making these vast digital data centers eligible for the title of "national project of major interest."

Industry Minister Marc Ferracci also voted for a budget of "10.000 hectares for industry," not subject to the ZAN, and announced the upcoming examination of a proposed law "in the autumn" to relax the system.