The government cannot control everything in this beginning of deconfinement. The extension of the state of health emergency had to be implemented with a little delay. The executive had to be satisfied with a first decree implementing deconfinement obscuring certain flagship provisions, starting with the limit of 100 kilometers beyond which travel must be justified. Everything was finally unblocked the same evening, with the validation of the bill by the Constitutional Council, not without reservation.
The main reservations of the Elders related to the question of tracing Covid-19 patients to trace contact cases. Another reservation, however, went more unnoticed at first. However, it potentially impacts the - new - daily life of all French people, since it concerns the limitation of groupings.
Premises for residential use are excluded
On April 28, before the national representation, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced that "gatherings organized on the public highway or in private places" of more than ten people would be prohibited.
Yes but here, none of the decrees published on May 11 evokes any limitation of the gatherings of more than ten people in the private places. An oversight on the part of the government? No way. In reality, the Constitutional Council took care to frame without the slightest ambiguity the limit of ten people to only gatherings on the public highway or in public places. "The measures relating to establishments open to the public and to meeting places [...] do not extend to premises used for residential purposes", can be read in its decision of 11 May.
"Citizenship and responsibility"
No risk for the services of the Ministry of the Interior, which therefore never mentions the private sphere in its decree, thus drafted: "Any gathering, meeting or activity in a capacity other than professional on the public highway or in a public place, bringing together more than ten people simultaneously, is prohibited throughout the territory of the Republic ”.
When contacted, the ministry confirmed that the text "does not prohibit gatherings of more than ten people in private places". Forgotten, therefore, the doctrine delivered by the Prime Minister on April 28. The Interior still wants to clarify that "hygiene measures must be applied in all places and in all circumstances, including in private places. "
Faced with this impossibility of supervising the rallies, the government defers to the French. "We are indeed reiterating the messages of civility and responsibility" from the French, says Place Beauvau. Even in the midst of a health crisis, the law cannot decide everything.