Véran takes the pen, in German, to avoid a unilateral closure of the border

Is Germany getting ready to close its border with France, as it has already done with the Austrian Tyrol and the Czech Republic?

In view of the tense epidemiological situation in the Grand-Est, and more particularly in Moselle, the hypothesis is taken very seriously by Paris.

To avoid any unilateral closure that would take the inhabitants of the region by surprise, first and foremost the 50,000 border workers who go to work across the Rhine every day, two members of the government are considering an extremely rare initiative.

The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, and the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, will indeed publish a press release written in French and German, aimed at explaining the situation in the region, in terms of health and action to be taken.

The text will be addressed to the populations on both sides of the border.

The goal is to avoid the chaos and cacophony that prevailed during the sudden closures decreed without notice by Berlin in April 2020, at the height of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mark the ground to avoid tensions

"This time, if such a measure were to take place, it would be done in good coordination," confides the entourage of the Secretary of State.

Clément Beaune stepped up discussions with the federal authorities, with the Minister President of the Land of Saarland and officials of the Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, as well as with the President of the Grand-Est region, Jean Rottner ”.

The Véran-Beaune bilingual press release would therefore serve to mark the ground to avoid tensions.

Concretely, what could push Berlin to take it a step further?

It all depends on the classification periodically carried out by the Robert-Koch Institute for Epidemiological Watch (equivalent to the Institut Pasteur) which classifies the regions of Germany and neighboring countries in alert levels from 1 to 3, depending on whether the virus is there. circulates strongly (stage 1), very strongly (stage 2) or whether they are mutant viruses (stage 3).

If each Land (federated region) decides its own health policy up to level 2, from 3 it is Chancellor Angela Merkel who takes the hand.

Clearly, if the Moselle bordering Germany were to go to level 3, Berlin could decide to close the border.

Especially since the Chancellor, inspired by the New Zealand example, now seems to be playing the “Zero Covid” strategy, consisting in sealing off the country to focus on eliminating the virus within the borders.

Maintain a minimum of flexibility

"For three weeks we have expected the Moselle to pass from the current level 1 to higher levels, and that we organize ourselves accordingly by planning with the Saar authorities for safeguard measures", explains Christophe Arend, deputy ( LREM) of Forbach and co-president of the bureau of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly.

Concretely, the elected representative, supported by the government, asks that we take into account the "life basins" that constitute these regions where border crossings are made several times a day.

“Living in Petite-Rosselle (Moselle), the store where I do my shopping is 500 m from my home, in Germany, while, on the French side, it's Forbach at 10 km,” testifies Christophe Arend.

The objective would therefore be to avoid repeated PCR tests for frontier workers and road hauliers, to preserve their right to go to work as well as the maintenance of authorized border posts for all inhabitants, for limited journeys.

In short, a minimum of flexibility, everything except the disastrous image of last spring with the police forbidding all crossings, for the first time since 1995 and the entry into force of Europe without Schengen borders.

In their press release, Beaune and Véran have also decided to play on transparency, describing where the virus is in the region.

"This is enormous progress compared to last year, now people are talking to each other, from Paris to Berlin, from Moselle to the Saar, everywhere", rejoices the Moselle deputy.