A hand extended to Parisians, the other to scold Anne Hidalgo.
In the aftermath of the Paris City Hall proposal to reconfine the capital for three weeks, the first reaction from the executive was eagerly awaited.
No categorical?
Yes under conditions?
Being careful not to respond directly, the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, endorsed the maxim of “at the same time” this Friday morning.
While "reaching out" to elected Parisians, he criticized them for going through the press to make proposals.
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Reconfining Paris for three weeks?
The town hall specifies the contours of its "proposal"
Thursday evening, it is indeed on France Info then on BFMTV that Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy to the town hall of Paris, had announced, to the general surprise, that the municipality intended to ask the police headquarters to put under the bell of the city for three weeks.
The only way, according to the first deputy, to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Because in his eyes, “the curfew, which looks like a de facto semi-confinement, is not enough to settle the curve” of coronavirus contaminations.
"We must now take courageous decisions," he said then.
"It is important that we ourselves do not play with the nerves of the French"
Asked by journalists in Lyon, where a meeting is to be held in the afternoon bringing together local elected officials and representatives of the State, Gabriel Attal first acknowledged that the situation was "difficult" for everyone: the government , local elected officials, the French… Before adding, as a first tackle to the Parisian elected officials, that "it is important that we ourselves do not play with the nerves of the French".
Gabriel Attal, government spokesperson: "We are reaching out to elected officials in Paris" pic.twitter.com/9n3zF86oBC
- BFMTV (@BFMTV) February 26, 2021
For once, after several days of controversy with Lyon's elected officials around the meatless canteen, the government spokesperson even makes the Rhône prefecture an example.
“I believe that here the city of Lyon has not communicated in the press requests or proposals.
And I want to salute the great spirit of responsibility and coolness of the elected officials of Lyon and elsewhere of all the elected officials of the large metropolises and cities of France, who focus the consultation where it should be held, that is, that is to say around a table with representatives of the State, ”he emphasizes.
The second part of his response is more cordial.
If the executive has obviously moderately appreciated the method of Anne Hidalgo, suspected of having wanted to challenge Emmanuel Macron in the perspective of the presidential election of 2022, he does not intend to reject out of hand the proposals of elected officials local.
"We extend a hand to elected officials in Paris [so] that they join the consultation to discuss it together", assures Gabriel Attal.
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As in Lyon, in accordance with its new regionalization strategy, the government therefore intends to negotiate behind the scenes the modalities of the response to Covid-19 in the capital.
Elected Parisians and ministers will at least agree on one thing, repeated by both sides: “Everything is on the table”.
