The threat is becoming clearer, the executive is looking for a response. Faced with the increase in cases of coronavirus contamination, Emmanuel Macron convened a Defense Council on Tuesday to try to prevent the start of the school year and the return of employees to companies from resulting in a restart of the epidemic. Objective: to obtain the effects of confinement… without confinement.
Last March, when the French had to stay at home to contain the spread of the virus, the measure worked but the country's economy paid a heavy price for it. The option is no longer on the table. "The question is to know what balance to strike between an economic emergency and a health emergency ," explains a key minister. But it is a complex balance. We must not underestimate the social consequences of the economic difficulties that we are experiencing. “At the end of the day, it is the specter of a restart of the protest against“ yellow vests ”which worries at the top of the State.
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For three hours, sixteen members of the government looked at the measures to be taken to fight against the Covid. Jean Castex will present them on Wednesday morning on France Inter before a Council of Ministers devoted to the subject and a press conference the next day.
This ranges from the closing hours of bars to the gauge in theaters, cinemas and sporting events, including border controls or wearing a mask. The idea of restricting movement in Île-de-France, where the virus is actively circulating, was even raised before being ruled out. “We went into a very great level of detail,” said one participant.
Call for citizenship
The government is also looking for the right formula to try to reduce the number of youth gatherings, without going through overly restrictive measures. New local health rules, in particular concerning Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) will be announced. During the discussions, the issue of testing deadlines was also discussed. "France has become one of the countries where one tests the most, in relation to the number of inhabitants" , welcomes the Figaro Gabriel Attal, government spokesman, who specifies that 750,000 tests were carried out during last week. At the end of the meeting, the Head of State promised "clear rules" everywhere, in schools, businesses and public places "to allow everyone to regain confidence". "Now is the time to mobilize to ensure the smooth running of the start of the school year," comments Gabriel Attal.
After asking the French to remain cloistered at home, it is now civility that the President of the Republic calls on to stem the epidemic. “To overcome the health crisis, we must learn to live with the virus. There is no inevitability: if we show unity and a sense of responsibility, we will succeed, ” said Emmanuel Macron.
Pedagogy
Despite the pressure from elected representatives of the opposition, the executive does not intend to finance the supply of masks for students. "We are not going to pay for masks to everyone, we must have the courage to say it, insists a member of the government, who calls for individual responsibility. The state does not provide condoms despite AIDS! ” The people most exposed to the risk of contamination as well as the most vulnerable French people should however be able to get them free. “50 million masks have already been sent to families. The back-to-school allowance has been increased by 100 euros. We want to ensure that no one can be prevented from having a mask for financial reasons. I do not believe that there is a country in the world which distributes free masks and permanently to the whole of its population ” , argues a member of the government.
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In recent days, "the health concern has returned to the economic concern in opinion polls", we observe within the executive. Hence the postponement of the presentation of the recovery plan, the emphasis on education and the desire to reassure the French, who mostly do not trust the executive to manage the health crisis.
"When the French are wondering when they will have to wear the mask at work, we were not going to talk to them about hydrogen batteries", justifies a member of the government. Once the new health rules are integrated, the Prime Minister will decline, next week, the distribution of the 100 billion euros devoted to the recovery of the economy.
