Court clears the way for Rotterdam to ban old petrol and diesel cars

DutchNews, June 6, 2018

Traffic is a major source of inner city pollution. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The highest Dutch administrative court has cleared the way for Rotterdam to ban old diesel and petrol cars from the city centre. 

The outgoing administration had announced plans to ban diesel-powered cars built before 2001 and petrol cars from before July 1992 but were successfully challenged in court by motorists. 

Now the Council of State has found in favour of the city and it will be up to the new, six-party council executive to decide when to implement the ban. 

Meanwhile, motoring organisation ANWB on Wednesday called on the cabinet to draw up rules for city environmental zones, saying motorists are becoming lost in a jungle of bans and restrictions. 

Amsterdam and Utrecht have already banned cars from their city centres and Nijmegen, Leiden, Arnhem and Maastricht are among the other cities where environmental zones could be on the cards. 

Minister

Junior transport minister Stientje van Veldhoven had said earlier she would draw up a set of regulations before the summer, but that deadline may now not be met, the AD reported.

‘I want clarity for both motorists and local authorities,’ the minister told the paper. ‘And it has always been my intention to come up with specific agreements before the summer. These agreements will also cover specific cases, such as invalid cars.’ 

In Amsterdam there is mounting irritation at the spread of Cantas and other mini vehicles, which were originally meant for people with disabilities. They are now proving popular with youngsters because they are not subject to parking restrictions.

Indonesia optimistic EU to lift flight ban next January

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said he was optimistic the European Union (EU) will lift its ban on Indonesian airline flights in its air space after the intensive and sustained lobbying the government had done with the European Commission.

"The government is continuing its lobbying to ensure that a technical meeting next January will produce a positive decision for Indonesia," Dino said after accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a marriage ceremony here on Thursday.

The president acted as a witness in the marriage of the third son of Rachmawati Soekarnoputri (daughter of founding president Soekarno) at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The European Union had since July 6, 2007 banned 51 Indonesian airlines from flying in the air space of 29 European countries.

For a week early this month, an EU auditors` team had been observing Indonesian aviation conditions and the team`s findings were evaluated by the European Commission on November 19-22, 2007.

The result of the evaluation was that Indonesian national airlines remained subject to the ban while the airlines of a number of other countries were allowed to fly to Europe again.

Dino said the Indonesian government had also done its lobbying when European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met President Yudhoyono at the State Palace not long ago.

"At the time, Barroso promised to speed up the process to resolve the matter. The commitment of both sides to normalize Indonesian flight services to Europe soon was also discussed," he said.

He said the European Union had not promised to lift the ban in November 2007 because it still needed to continue its studies and hold a technical meeting in January 2008.

"We really want the normalization process to be accelerated and the flight ban lifted at the beginning of next year. If by that time the ban has not yet been revoked, we can lodge a protest," Dino said.