A court on Tuesday found that the French state had failed to take sufficient steps to limit air pollution around Paris, a legal first in the nation hailed by environmental campaigners as a victory for victims of dirty air.
The case at the administrative court in Montreuil outside Paris was brought by a mother and daughter, who argued that their health had been harmed by the air in a notoriously congested area of the city, but the court also said that it did not find any direct link between the pair’s health problems and failures of the state, throwing out their demand for damages.
The complaint was the first brought by individuals against the French state over health problems caused by air pollution.
“The state committed a fault by taking insufficient measures concerning the quality of air,” the court said in a statement.
It said that the state had failed to take sufficient measures to bring concentrations of certain polluting gases below allowed limits.
“For victims of pollution, this is a first,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer Francois Lafforgue said. “From now, the state will have to take effective measures in the fight against pollution and the victims can hope to have what they suffered recognized.”
Nadir Saifi, of Ecologie sans Frontiere, a non-governmental organization that backed the case, said the decision was “historic.”
“I am very moved. We have been waiting for this for 20 years,” the environmentalist said.
However, the court rejected the pair’s demand for 160,000 euros (US$181,768) in damages, saying it could not find a direct link between their health problems and the state’s failings.
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