Negotiations for the sustainability of ephemeral terraces suggest a more restrictive framework for Parisian restaurateurs.
Since last week, the city has opened consultations between groups of local residents and representative organizations of the UNHCR sector (hotels, cafes, catering) to define the modalities according to which these extensions of terraces - on the sidewalks or parking spaces - can review the day at the time of deconfinement.
From mid-May, some terraces should indeed be able to resume their activity, according to the announcements of Emmanuel Macron.
Read also: The City of Paris wants to extend the life of ephemeral terraces
It remains to be seen under what conditions.
Representatives of the UNHCR sector sat down at the negotiating table with one main fear: the reappearance of the terrace fee, this municipal tax on the space occupied outside.
However, the town hall intends to re-establish it: “
We have made a great effort since the start of the crisis and the restaurant owners thanked us for this help which enabled them to be saved.
But from July, terraces and ephemeral extensions will be chargeable and prices will be harmonized,
”said Olivia Polski, deputy (PS) in charge of trade at the town hall of Paris, in the columns of the
Parisian
.
A summer season that will be difficult
An announcement made without conditions, even though discussions concerning the sustainability of the terraces must continue until a restitution of the exchanges scheduled for May 7. "
We continue to ask for free admission,
" says Pascal Mousset, president of the National Group of Independents Hôtellerie & Restauration (GNI-HCR).
Île-de-France will experience the same summer as last year in terms of attendance, with around -40% of customers in the restaurant business.
"Joined by
Le Figaro
, the town hall of Paris tempers and specifies that the median of the terrace fee paid by bars and restaurants is 425 euros per year,"
or about 35 euros per month
".
The exemption from this tax, which has lasted for more than a year, for its part represented a shortfall of 34 million euros for the town hall.
Read also: Deconfinement: traders and restaurateurs worried about the suspense surrounding the reopening
Parisian restaurants will also remain exempt from this tax until June 2021, before the introduction of the ephemeral terraces device in the new regulations for displays and terraces (RET) which should come into force in July.
Several sticking points have to be overcome by then, in particular concerning the opening hours of the terraces.
The Paris town hall offers bars and restaurants to work there until 10 p.m.
the latter hope to negotiate an opening until 11 p.m., to the chagrin of local residents' groups.
To read also: Terminal: the gradual relaxation of teleworking will be "concomitant" with the reopening of the terraces
The latter in fact plead for a much stricter framework for ephemeral terraces in terms of the noise pollution they can cause, but also with regard to their aesthetics. “
We do not want to make Paris ugly,
wants to reassure Pascal Mousset.
We trust the city to put in place an aesthetic charter. It is up to them to launch a public call for tenders to choose the models of terraces to offer for rent or for sale to restaurateurs,
”and thus avoid the terraces built in pallets or plywood which have flourished in the capital and , often, age badly. Because the ephemeral terraces are intended to impose themselves in the landscape. “
We can imagine that this will become a seasonal device,
we are told at the town hall of Paris,
which can be put back in place every summer.
"
