European Cities Plan to Sue the E.U. Over New Emissions Rules

A group of 20 European cities including Paris, Madrid, and Copenhagen, are poised to take drastic legal action this week: They plan to sue the European Union. According to comments from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s cabinet director, reported in E.U. news magazine Euractiv yesterday, the cities will fight new diesel emissions laws that they say are too lax—so lax, they argue, that cities won’t be able to reach their targets for reducing pollution.

Fighting to annul the new laws (formally announced April 26) and gain compensation, the cities are frustrated at what they see as E.U. double standards. On the one hand, the E.U. places pressure on cities to reduce harmful emissions. On the other, its new laws will do little to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from diesel vehicles. This could force cities to achieve emissions goals through bans and congestion charges, when they could have been achieved by more stringent manufacturing regulations instead. This apparent contradiction could lead the cities and E.U. representatives to have their day in court.