A speckled foil cropping. Invited - by videoconference - at 8 p.m. of France 2 this Tuesday evening, the head of government, Édouard Philippe, was asked about the words of his former Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn. In confidences to Le Monde , the latter claims to have warned the executive, as of January, of the health risks that the coronavirus crisis represented for France. “ When I left the ministry, I was crying because I knew the tsunami wave was before us. (...) There will be thousands of deaths, ”laments the hematologist in the columns of the daily newspaper.
LIVE - Coronavirus: 7,730 cases in France, 175 deaths, Édouard Philippe speaks at 8 p.m.
Despite a press release published in the afternoon, in an attempt to put these words which she partly " regrets " into perspective, the exit of the candidate LREM in Paris caused an outcry in the opposition. But it also made the main leaders of the majority leap to the highest peak in the state. " I have no doubt that a few months ago there were people who said 'you are doing too much' and others who said 'you are not doing enough'. I have no doubt that in a few months, when - as I hope, as I believe, as I know - we will have taken this step and we will have knocked down this virus, some will say 'it would have had to do otherwise '. All these controversies, all these challenges, I accept them, I know them. I am the head of the government, I assume absolutely all the decisions of the government ”, declared Prime Minister Édouard Philippe straight away.
The "fight" against the coronavirus is "waged everywhere"
After recalling that France was one of the first countries to repatriate its nationals from Wuhan (China) and to place them in confinement in the Bouches-du-Rhône, the tenant of Matignon justified himself on maintaining the first round of municipal elections last Sunday. He assured that this decision had never been the subject of any objection from the Scientific Council, and that on the contrary it had been acclaimed by the opposition. Then he hammered the current course of action of the executive couple, taking up the martial tone already adopted by the President of the Republic Monday evening, but without going so far as to use the term " war ".
" What interests me today, with all of the French, is to ensure that this fight we are waging (against the epidemic) is won ", urged the majority leader . Before detailing the means to achieve it according to him: " By respecting the instructions, by supporting the hospital staff, by supporting the liberal doctors, the nursing assistants, the nurses, who give the best of themselves. By respecting all the instructions. This fight is waged everywhere in the state structure, it is waged everywhere in the cities, it is waged everywhere on the national territory. It is this fight that falls to me. My goal, my mission, is to make sure we win it, ”he concluded.