Tightening containment: government under pressure

This is a much-awaited document, which will arrive this Monday on Emmanuel Macron's desk: the opinion of the Scientific Council created due to Covid-19 on the duration and extent of the confinement. A key element in its decision-making. We must also reckon with the new deal of this weekend. Because the medical profession intends to be heard. It is these university professors and hospital practitioners from all over France who raise this "warning cry for strict compliance with confinement", which we publish.

The Young Doctors union also called for "total confinement" before the Council of State. If the institution refuses to "order the total containment of the population", it "enjoins" the government to review certain travel authorizations, on the grounds that "the scope of certain provisions is nonetheless ambiguous with regard in particular to the content of alert messages disseminated to the population ”.

"Let's wait for the Scientific Council opinion", we tempered Matignon this Sunday evening, hammering the line: "We must take into account, as from the beginning, scientific opinions, take the best measures to protect the French and explain the motivations of each measurement. " It prevents. The pressure is mounting. Because there are also foreign examples, first of all Italy, hit hard, which stops all non-essential productive activity. The opposition, on the other hand, hardens the tone, concentrating for the time being its reproaches on the government's unpreparedness.

"Not everything can be transposed"

“We don't do things under the influence of emotion. There will always be someone who asks to be harder. But we do not want to deviate from the fact that we have always made our decisions based on a scientific and medical consensus, "recalls government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, who adds:" There is a form of ease to say: Let's do a real Chinese confinement. But not everything can be transposed. We are in a democratic system and its principles must not be questioned lightly and without parliamentary control. "

In the ranks of government, there is no denying that extending the confinement beyond fifteen days seems inevitable. "It seems to me that we are going straight ahead," breathes a minister, when the entourage of Edouard Philippe admits that this is a hypothesis "very likely". "This is absolutely certain," said another member of the government, less confident on the question of the tightening of the measures in force.

"There is the double constraint of Stay at home and Keep working, " continues the minister. A balance that the government is trying to maintain, at the risk of being accused of not doing enough. But it goes, it is argued in the ministries, of economic issues, as of everyday life. There are many ministers, who point out that sectors which do not appear to be essential are in fact essential. Frequently cited example: manufacturers of cardboard packaging, which are used for packaging medicines as well as for pasta…

"It's starting to infuse"

“Tightening confinement means already succeeding in ensuring that it is properly respected. The results will be better when people strictly apply it. This is already what must be obtained before claiming more, argues government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye. It is in particular for this that we have allowed, and sometimes encouraged, mayors to refine or even tighten measures at local level. Hence, also, the strengthening of controls and the tightening of sanctions in the event of breach of the confinement rules. Sunday evening, Beauvau did not fail to communicate the number of breaches of breach of confinement noted since Tuesday noon: 91,824.

Political Newsletter

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more

VIDEO. Rabat, Miami, Strasbourg ... a confined world, deserted cities

Certainly, "there are still people who play idiots," observed a minister. But the head of government, Edouard Philippe, "very worried last Sunday", according to his entourage, "considers that it is starting to infuse". According to the Elysee Palace, it is not excluded that Emmanuel Macron will speak to take stock of this first period of confinement "on the horizon of next weekend, unless new elements of information require it" .

A ministerial adviser reminds him, "you have to accept the fact that it is very evolving, day after day". Witness this precaution taken by the spokesperson of the government: “We cannot guarantee that we will never harden the rules, but everything will depend on the opinion of the Scientific Council and on the behavior of each. "