Owners of Euro 4 diesels can no longer simply come to downtown Munich. City council is calling for the ban to be lifted.

Since Wednesday, February 1st, diesel cars in emission class Euro 4 and lower are no longer allowed to enter the environmental zone within the Mittlerer Ring in Munich. There are still far-reaching exceptions to the ban that can be applied for. There is resistance to the measure in city politics.

This is what the faction calls for FDP/ Bavarian party in the city council general meeting by emergency motion that the driving ban will be suspended. In the press release published on this, both parties justify this with the reasons for the amendments by the Greens/SPD: It was “grotesque and contradictory” that the parties passed the driving ban “with such harshness” a few months earlier, according to parliamentary group spokesman Fritz Roth. And: “Under Ude, such nonsense would not have happened to the SPD”.

In its statement, the FDP called for incentives for commuters to be used instead of bans in order to “get the air even cleaner.”

At the request of t-online, the district administration department and the department for climate and environmental protection explain that unfortunately the statutory NO2 annual limit value can not yet be met in several places on the central ring road – despite improvements in recent years. And the prognosis predicts this for years to come, provided no permissible countermeasures are taken.

A spokeswoman for the climate department explains that “the first available measured values ​​for 2022 confirm the need for action”. In 2022, the annual limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which has been in force since 2010, of 40 micrograms per cubic meter was exceeded at various points on the Mittlerer Ring in Munich. This would show results. “The distance with the highest exposure in the entire federal territory was still measured at the LÜB station operated by the State Office for the Environment on Landshuter Allee.”

A NO2 pollution of 49 micrograms per cubic meter was found there on an annual average. At least two micrograms less than 2021, but still around 20 percent too high.

The climate and environmental protection department does not seem to believe that the lawsuit against the diesel ban, announced by the “Mobil in Deutschland” car club and the CSU member of the state parliament Robert Brannekamper (t-online reported), will be successful. A spokeswoman explains, “in Berlin, the local driving ban overturned after the immission situation had improved significantly. In Munich, the air situation is still tense”, the state capital is also legally obliged to take measures.

The first stage of the diesel driving ban has been in effect since Wednesday, February 1st. It is the result of a comparison between the German Environmental Aid and the city of Munich, which was reached because the city has not complied with the nitrogen dioxide limit values ​​​​in the air for years. Originally, the responsibility for compliance with the limit values ​​lay with the Free State of Bavaria, which ultimately handed them over to the municipalities.