In view of the health crisis the country is going through, it could only be a first in French political history. Hearings of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Minister of Health Olivier Véran, conducted entirely by videoconference, bringing together 31 deputies and the presidents of the eight standing committees of the National Assembly.
The information mission on “impact, management and consequences” of the covid-19 epidemic was kicked off on Wednesday evening. National representation immediately entered the heart of the matter, since the two members of the government were invited to answer questions from elected officials of the majority and the opposition.
At the outset, the Prime Minister warned that deconfinement could certainly not be done “all at once”, but in stages, according to criteria to be defined.
A “progressive deconfinement”?
During his introductory remarks, Edouard Philippe wanted to anticipate any disappointment with the answers he could provide. "We don't know everything," he announced straight away. Faced with events of the nature of those we live in, faced with the consequences of decisions such as confinement, we do not know everything […] The decisions we make are often taken on the basis of sometimes incomplete and often contradictory information . "
The most significant example concerns the timetable for deconfinement, an "eminently complex" question, the answer to which will depend on the treatments available or not, the tests that may or may not be carried out and the way in which the virus has circulated. . "It is therefore probable that we are not on the way to general and absolute deconfinement everywhere and for everyone," acknowledged the head of government.
The executive is thus reflecting on the implementation of a regionalized deconfinement, the terms of which remain to be defined. Other criteria could serve this progressive deconfinement, depending on age for example.
“4,000 beds available in intensive care”
Since the beginning of the epidemic, Emmanuel Macron has been talking about war to define the fight against the epidemic. The main battleground is played today in terms of the number of places available in intensive care. "There are more than 5,500 patients hospitalized in intensive care," said Olivier Véran. France normally has 5,000 beds in intensive care. The white plan activated very early on increased our capacity to 10,000 beds. It's a phenomenal effort, he continued. "
The Minister set a target "of the order of 14,000 beds". A race against the clock, since the country currently retains some 4,000 available beds, of which 1,700 are dedicated to covid-19 patients.
"Not possible to organize the bin under normal conditions"
For three weeks, teachers have tried as much as possible to ensure pedagogical continuity. A difficult job to carry out, which also involves parents. On this point, the Prime Minister said he hoped for a resumption of teaching in early May. Again, without being able to guarantee it, because the confinement could be caused to persist.
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It is however "acquired" that the baccalaureate will not be able to take place under "normal conditions", said Edouard Philippe, referring to the difficulties in setting in motion this "enormous machinery".
Voluntary tracking?
Asked about the means to strengthen the control of restrictive measures, the Prime Minister returned to the possibility of establishing citizen tracking via their smartphones. A method particularly deployed in South Korea, which presents one of the best controlled spreading curves of the virus in the world. The device would nevertheless be "not legally permitted in France," said the minister, who does not rule out the idea of voluntary tracking of citizens.
With regard to police checks, the Prime Minister announced that 5.8 million checks for non-compliance with the confinement were carried out in France between March 17 and 31. Among these checks, 359,000 infringements were noted, of which 64% by the national police.
Target of 20,000 tests per day
Last week, the country was able to perform 5,000 daily tests for coronavirus. Edouard Philippe wants to quadruple this figure to reach the milestone of 20,000 tests per day.
Questioned by the deputy LR Damien Abad, who asked how the government intended to catch up with Germany and its claimed 500,000 daily tests, the Prime Minister did not hesitate to express reservations. “When Germany says it performs 500,000 tests, I don't know what it means. I am always very careful when I compare French figures with figures from other countries, whatever they may be. "And the resident of Matignon to say that if France performs screenings for each suspected death, it is not certain that neighboring countries will do the same.
Mélenchon calls for nationalizations
Jean-Luc Mélenchon's speech was inevitably expected, he said that he was impatiently waiting for his two minutes to speak. The leader of La France insoumise remained in the tone of the predominant exchanges. Supported on this point by deputies Philippe Vigier and Mathilde Panot, he nevertheless firmly called for nationalizations, citing in particular two companies: Luxfer, which produces oxygen cylinders, and Famar, which produces drugs, and which is recovering. judicial. Jean-Luc Mélenchon also called for nationalization in the textile industry.
Édouard Philippe took care of answering. "Increasing national production does not necessarily require requisitioning or nationalization," he says. Without requisitioning without nationalizing, the example of masks shows, we can mobilize the national productive fabric ”. With regard to the Famar company, Olivier Véran said he looked “very closely” at all takeover offers.
No, this is not ideology: #Luxfer and #Famar are closed. Prime Minister doesn't even know about the situation. # DirectAN #Coronavirus
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) April 1, 2020The government persists on hydroxychloroquine
Interrogated by Joachim Son-Forget on the government's policy on the supervision of treatment with chloroquine, the Minister of Health re-explained the reasons which led the executive not to generalize its administration. "Mr. Son-Forget is a doctor, he knows only too well that to prescribe a drug, you must have a minimum of elements to demonstrate scientifically its effectiveness, in France or elsewhere in the world," he defended. No country today has gone beyond authorization. Believe me, if a drug, be it this one or another, is capable of improving the state of health of the French, we will do it. "
Territories exempt from containment?
If Richard Ferrand took care to insist heavily to avoid the onset of controversy, inviting the deputies to keep certain reservations until the launch of the parliamentary inquiry, the deputy Éric Ciotti nonetheless challenged the two ministers on respect, or rather the non-compliance with confinement in certain districts. "There are exceptions in certain territories where it is badly or not at all respected, and in particular in certain suburbs", declared the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes behind his webcam.
On this point, Edouard Philippe recognized that "respecting strict confinement is probably more difficult in some places than in others". The Prime Minister conceded that it was probably more difficult to enforce confinement in Mayotte rather than in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Before adding: "But I also say it forcefully, the law applies everywhere in the territory. Confinement, it is not there to satisfy or annoy one category of French rather than another. "