Emmanuel Macron had advanced it during his speech last Wednesday.
He said it again on Tuesday April 6 during a video exchange with college students.
Intervention after intervention, emerges the prospect of an exit from confinement from mid-May, considered by the admission of the Elysée-Matignon couple as "the pivotal date" for the end of the crisis.
In terms of health, the challenge is enormous.
Politically, the stake is major.
"Nothing is worse for the confidence and morale of the country, for the actors, than to have deadlines that we set ourselves and that we are not able to keep", warns a manager. the majority, aware of the precedents which scalded public opinion.
With, slip another, the feeling that "the tunnel seems a longer than expected".
A year ago, at the end of the first containment against the Covid-19 epidemic, it was the promise of “happy days”.
At the end of November, that of a possible reopening of restaurants on January 20 outlined new hope.
And a month ago, in Stains (Seine-Saint-Denis), Emmanuel Macron again took his feet in the carpet of optimism, asking to "hold another four to six weeks", when the spokesperson of the government, Gabriel Attal, evoked for his part the horizon of mid-April.
We know the rest ...
In the ministries, "it works a lot"
Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, it is nevertheless estimated that the context today is very different.
“A few weeks ago, when we set an approximate date, it was based on a possible drop in the incidence rates of the epidemic, admits a relative.
Whereas here, we are deploying a strategy based on more concrete elements, and on which we have a real lever for action: generalized vaccination thanks to the mass delivery of new doses and the development of vaccinodromes ”.
What the Head of State confirmed Tuesday to the Parisian - Today in France: "The question of reopening is not simply linked to the number of cases, but it must be viewed with the declination of our vaccination strategy and control of the situation in our intensive care units.
"And an exit from the crisis envisaged" step by step ", with a precise agenda which could be unveiled by Emmanuel Macron himself during a public speech.
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Until then, all the ministries on the front line on the health front are invited to put the turbo.
"As we say at home, it works a lot", slips an employee of Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of National Education.
Especially after the big bug with educational sites, which plagued the first day of distance school on Tuesday.
At the same time, this is to ensure that classes can resume from April 26 for schools.
On Wednesday morning, meetings with elected officials and teachers' unions were organized rue de Grenelle to define future protocols, and even short-term objectives.
Like the feasibility of opening outdoor sports activities during school holidays in difficult urban areas.
As for the plan for shops, it is still on the job at Bercy and should land on the table of Prime Minister Jean Castex next week before a final arbitration at the Elysee.
Other important subjects, the partial reopening of cultural places, the question of the health passport and that of the vaccination of teachers.
On this last point, the entourage of Jean-Michel Blanquer assures him: "The goal of the game is to be able to start as quickly as possible, depending on available stocks".
A strong stake one year before the presidential election
What to be optimistic about for the future?
"Unless a major industrial accident, we should keep the schedule", hopes, Coué method, a ministerial adviser.
Even if the bet will also be based on the adhesion of the French to vaccination.
Particularly with regard to AstraZeneca, whose loss of confidence could be increased after the new opinion of the European Medicines Agency which on Wednesday recognized the risks of blood clots as a "very rare" side effect.
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VIDEO.
AstraZeneca: thrombosis should be added to rare side effects, judges EMA
As for the political consequences ... “A year ago, the authorities could move or retreat, the oppositions were inaudible, decrypts a strategist.
But one year before the presidential election, it's completely different.
Ambitions are emerging.
And a failure of deconfinement could have a strong political impact.
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