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Elected officials and ski resort professionals appeal to the Council of State

2020-12-03T13:44:16.778Z


They are protesting at the government's decision to close the ski lifts for Christmas, when they will operate in Austria, Switzerland and Spain.


The first snowflakes added a layer of determination to the anger.

Determined to fight to the end, the presidents of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the departments of Savoie, Isère and Haute-Savoie as well as mountain professionals announced on Wednesday that they had seized the Council of State against the decision. government to close the ski lifts for Christmas.

"A freedom summary will be filed this Thursday before the Council of State",

specifies Laurent Wauquiez, LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

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The ban on skiing causes a stir

Earlier today, more than 600 mountain dwellers gathered in Bourg-Saint-Maurice (Savoie).

In their own way, brandishing broken red hearts, they expressed their sense of not being listened to.

In Bourg-d'Oisans, they were twice as likely to want to open the slopes of the Isère massifs.

Prohibiting the French from skiing, while the ski lifts will operate in Austria, Switzerland and Spain, does not pass.

As of Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron, announced

"restrictive and dissuasive measures"

for French people wanting to go skiing abroad.

There is talk of isolating them for seven days when they come back from vacation.

Random controls will be set up at the borders…

“It is a laudable idea, but difficult to apply,

reacts Jean-Luc Boch, president of France Montagnes.

We no longer understand what is going on in the mind of the government. ”

Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing

This aberrant situation is howling in the French mountains.

“Open ski resorts without ski lifts are like a beach without a sea,”

says Guy Verney, Mayor of Bourg-d'Oisans.

What is happening is dramatic. ”

5000 inhabitants of the city work in the station.

Their jobs are threatened.

"Hotels, which had hired, find themselves between 0 and 5% occupancy rate at Christmas,

adds the elected LR.

And there are no reservations for January. ”

Emmanuel Macron had proposed a European consultation.

Angela Merkel even wanted the European Union to ban ski holidays until January 10 in Europe.

Last winter, the Austrian station of Ischgl had been a hotbed of contamination;

in France, the concern had come from Contamines-Montjoie, quickly dissipated.

“The authorities keep reminding us of the Ischgl cluster.

However, even Austria reopens this year at Christmas! ”

Jean-Luc Boch indignantly.

There, the prices are 20% cheaper and the comfort better (bubble and heated chairlifts, stations without cars).

“If our customers go there, they risk getting a taste for it,”

worries Luc Reversade, founder of La Folie Douce, which owns eight restaurants in the Alps and a hotel in Chamonix.

Read also:

Skiing ban in Switzerland: "It is no longer a war against the virus, but against freedom"

“We must prevent any third wave,

insists Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Tourism.

Nothing would be worse than opening and closing afterwards.

The objective is to preserve the heart of the season, especially February and March. ”

In solidarity with the French mountains, he calls on the French to plan their alpine skiing stay for the rest of the winter season.

Until then, they will have to make do with cross-country skiing and hiking, snowshoeing and sledding.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-12-03

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