Why does France not close its airlines with Brazil, in order to stem the spread on its territory of a variant detected across the Atlantic?
According to the Minister for Transport, Paris has no choice: "
it is imposed by law
", explained Jean-Baptiste Djebbari on LCI.
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"
The Council of State told us that French nationals and residents in France, in the name of freedom of movement, should be able to continue to come
", recalled the Minister, citing a recent decision of the institution.
Dating from mid-March, it concludes that it is
"disproportionate to demand a compelling reason from the French who wish to return to France, because the impact of these trips is minor on the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic "
.
“To demand a compelling reason is a disproportionate attack on the fundamental right of all French people to access their country,”
stressed the institution.
In the name of the "
fundamental right that every French person has to access his country
", lines must therefore remain open.
Other countries, such as Portugal, have not had to deal with this obligation.
France, for its part, has therefore chosen to strengthen controls on flights, not being able to prohibit them.
50 people arrive from Brazil every day to Roissy
The minister nevertheless wanted to be reassuring: from 50,000 people arriving from Brazil each week at Roissy before the pandemic, we went “
to 50 per day
”, or around 350 each week.
Among them are French nationals as well as Brazilians.
"
The Brazilian who returns has a compelling reason, a negative PCR test and possibly an antigen test on arrival
."
It is therefore controlled, from a health point of view, and will not be able to access the aircraft without a prior PCR test, insisted the minister.
The challenge is then to have "
tamper-proof documents
", in order to prevent some from presenting false PCR tests on boarding.
"
This is the whole stake [...] of the travel pass
" on which the players in the sector are working.
For now, the Brazilian strain remains relatively rare in France, representing “
0.1% of strains detected
” in France in March.
"
We must obviously remain extraordinarily vigilant,
" conceded Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
