“Shopping friends, colleagues, breeders, producers, all actors, like all of you, at midnight on Saturday, I had to close my restaurant, L'Ami Jean, in Paris. And I don't know for how long. That time, let's use it to organize and guarantee the reopening of our establishments. The only way out of this economic crisis, which promises to be fatal for many of us, is to push the government to declare a state of natural health disaster so that insurance can compensate us. ”
This is how the petition launched on Tuesday by chef Stéphane Jégo on the change.org website begins. Entitled “Let's save our restaurants and producers!”, This “call for a collective for the safeguarding of businesses in France” is addressed to Bruno Le Maire (Minister of Economy and Finance), Emmanuel Macron, Muriel Pénicaud (Minister of Labor ), Gérald Darmanin (Minister of Action and Public Accounts) and Didier Guillaume (Minister of Agriculture and Food). The objective? Invite French traders to relay this message to put pressure on the government and insurance companies to declare a state of natural disaster, which would allow businesses to be compensated by their insurers.
More than 7000 signatories in less than 24 hours
The owner of l'Ami Jean restaurant, one of the leaders in bistronomy, calls for "a mobilization as historic as it is non-political". In this "unprecedented" situation, which is not foreseen on the insurance side, "we must fight to save our establishments", all the more so as "the insurers, who are federated, have already organized themselves to escape the crisis. " And to ask the question, after the aid announced by Emmanuel Macron and Bruno Le Maire: "Am I the only one who wonders why the role of insurance has never been mentioned? Would it be fair for insurance (220 billion euros in turnover in 2018) and their reinsurance (234 billion euros in turnover in 2018) to be the only ones to come out unscathed? ”
In less than 24 hours, the petition has already been signed by more than 7000 people, including many chefs: Pierre Augé (La Maison de Petit Pierre), Bertrand Buy (Les Papilles), Florent Ciccoli (Café du Coin, Jones), Hélène Darroze (Marsan, Joia), Bruno Doucet (La Régalade), Christian Etchebest (La Cantine du Troquet), Adrien Ferrand (Eels), Manon Fleury (ex-Mermoz), Pierre Gagnaire, chocolatier Jacques Genin, Guillaume Gomez (chef) de l'Élysée), Bertrand Grébaut (Septime), Simon Horwitz (Elmer), Gregory Marchand (Frenchie), Alessandra Montagne (ex-Tempero), Sarah Mouchot (Holybelly), Pierre Mouquet, Ludovic Dardenay and Julien Fouin (Bonvivant, Glou ...), jam maker Stefan Perotte, Jean-François Piège (Le Grand Restaurant), David Rathgeber (L'Assiette), Raphael Rego (Oka), market gardener Eric Roy, Guillaume Sanchez (Neso), Romain Tellier (Gramme) ...
