After the intervention of President Emmanuel Macron, who announced Wednesday, October 28 a reconfinement of the whole country for at least a month in the face of the worsening of the Covid-19 epidemic, the president (ex-LR) of the region Ile-de-France, Valérie Pécresse asks the State to work with the regions on the testing policy.
She wants to organize their deployment from next week in 50 stations.
France will "find containment".
What's your reaction ?
Was it necessary?
VALÉRIE PÉCRESSE.
I believe that we are forced to go towards this containment to save lives.
But I hear the confusion, the incomprehension and the anger of the French.
It is true that the government gives the feeling of chasing the pandemic for several weeks, when the second wave should have been anticipated.
But today the urgency is action, we must roll up our sleeves.
Emmanuel Macron speaks of a “fair balance” between health protection and the economic fabric.
Has he found that balance?
This new confinement cannot be identical to the previous one, otherwise it means that we have not learned anything.
So, yes, we must maintain as much as possible economic activity, education.
There is a better balance than last March, but this balance will mainly be based on our ability to test quickly, efficiently and in real time.
The population must be massively tested.
I call on the State not to reproduce the mistakes of the past, not to do alone what it did late and badly.
We, regional presidents, ask that we also be trusted with the tests.
I want to be able to organize their deployment from next week in 50 stations in Ile-de-France, provide 100,000 antigenic tests to high school nurses.
You have to react very quickly.
I also hope that we can train the holders of a first aid certificate who would like to help carry out screening operations.
We must also carry out specific actions for homeless people in the metro, who must be tested and sheltered.
To lead all these battles, Ile-de-France like the other regions needs the green light from the State.
Political Newsletter
Every day, political news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
Are there other subjects on which to act?
There is obviously a subject concerning the nursing staff.
We want the nursing institutes that depend on the regions to be in battle order to train staff to support caregivers.
It is also necessary to train job seekers, so that they can practice non-specialized tasks in hospitals.
Overall, the state must let us be freer!
We need more agility, do away with a bureaucracy that prevents us from acting.
READ ALSO>
Anti-Covid measures: the national union buried even before Macron's announcements
From an economic point of view, what more can be done?
The region has already implemented a digital check for artisans and traders who want to develop e-commerce, so that restaurants can make home delivery.
For its part, the government is already doing a lot on the issue of business charges, but there may be something else where it is possible to act: rents.
This is a big subject for companies, especially in the restaurant business.
Why not imagine a tax credit for landlords who would give up collecting their rents
(Editor's note: the measure will be implemented for landlords who agree to reduce rents)
?
We should also review the list of essential shops, I did not understand that our booksellers are not included in it.
What are you going to do on the transport side?
We will adapt the organization of transport, as we have done since the curfew.
We will look at the evolution of attendance, and bring together user associations to decide together.
So that all the people who will continue to move to work can do so in good conditions.