This is not a surprise to them, they had been preparing for it for a few days.
But that does not mean that they are satisfied with it… Craftsmen, traders, entrepreneurs and other business leaders coldly welcomed the announcement of a reconfinement on Wednesday evening, as different as it was from that of March .
Until the last moment they will have pleaded their cause to the executive, and with great statements in the press.
On Monday, the president of Medef warned the government against an economic collapse if companies were prevented from working.
"If we completely reconfigure as in March, we are heading for a collapse of the French economy, we risk not recovering"
, thus released Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux.
The French Commerce Council, for its part, found it appropriate to recall that the end-of-year celebrations represent a crucial period for traders because some achieve up to 60% of their annual turnover there.
Read also: New confinement: "The impact on unemployment and bankruptcies will be greater"
After the announcement, the tone is not significantly different.
The U2P (representing the craftsmen) denounced
"measures which are difficult to understand and are dangerous for a whole part of the economy"
.
She
accepts
her perplexity:
"How can we accept that the many shops and local activities deemed non-essential (cafes, restaurants, hairdressers, florists, opticians, booksellers ...), which have been fighting for months to save their business, are again arbitrarily plunged into inactivity and promised more and more surely to a permanent closure?
If the health reason for such a measure is to limit social interactions, why are supermarkets and hypermarkets not subject to the same ban?
By imposing such unequal treatment, the State is going against the freedom of enterprise and the rules of fair competition, which it is supposed to guarantee itself ”
.
“We are not in a position to judge medical matters, and must comply with the decisions taken. But the survival of many retail companies is now at stake. It will depend on how the state supports them. It is now essential that the State take responsibility for part of the rents,
”explains Emmanuel Le Roch, the general delegate of Procos, the federation of specialized trade companies.
All brands are not equal in the face of this second confinement.
Those who specialize in sports or home improvement have made up for the shortfall in the first confinement, and enter the second in a better financial position than those in clothing or beauty, whose cumulative sales since January are down 25%.
The prospect of a reassessment of the situation in 15 days gives traders some hope.
"But we know that the contaminations curve takes more than 15 days to reverse, so we are not having too many illusions"
...
For CroissancePlus,
“this new confinement will be a great test for society in general and for companies in particular.
Maintaining economic activity is now an absolute necessity.
A stop as brutal as last March would sign the death sentence for a large part of the private sector, but also for public financial balances.
Everything must be implemented for the economic maintenance strategy to work, ”
said Thibaut Bechetoille, president of CroissancePlus, a few moments after Emmanuel Macron's speech.
"Last stage before an economic death"
On the restaurant side, words are hard.
"This forced and brutal closure of our establishments sounds a new halt for our professionals which obliges the government to take strong, clear and responsible measures to come to their aid"
, declare in unison the professional organizations of the sector, GNC, GNI, UMIH and SNRTC.
“We are stunned.
This is the last stage before an economic death, reacts Franck Trouet, spokesperson for the National Group of independent cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels (GNI).
We are now expecting the government to respond in a clear, strong and responsible manner to our problems, starting by settling the issue of rents and allowing all businesses to access the solidarity fund.
We are business leaders who cannot navigate on sight.
We need to know how much aid to count on and for how long ”
.
"It's a very hard stop
, deplores Jean-Virgile Crance, president of the National Group of Hotel Chains (GNC).
The situation was already very difficult. It's catastrophic ”
. In September alone, the hotel occupancy rate was 44% on a national average, and only 26% in Paris.
“For lack of customers, we will see a wave of establishments close, at least for the duration of the confinement,
continues the leader.
No additional support plan has been announced. We need to organize ourselves. In the spring, Emmanuel Macron had promised: "zero turnover, zero charge". We are very far from it ”
.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/XFDP6MRSABBTHHTGL3MSUSHMRE.jpg)
