Coronavirus: Towards a cautious deconfinement, in the haunting of a second wave

Gradually relax the noose to revive the economy: the Prime Minister presented on Tuesday a partial deconfinement plan from May 11, in stages, tailor-made according to the territories and under conditions, in the dread of a second assault of the coronavirus.

"We are going to have to live with the virus" warned Edouard Philippe in the preamble to the National Assembly, before a silent and sparse hemicycle, social distancing requires. But he ruled out any immediate return to the world before, after six weeks of severe restrictions.

"Protect the French without immobilizing France," summed up the head of government, announcing the end of the certificates: "it will again be possible to move freely" up to 100 km from home and to gather, in public and in private but less than ten people.

We must deconfinate to avoid "the risk of collapse" of the economy and employment, but "gradually, carefully" and "if the conditions are right" and that the number of cases and hospitalizations continues to fall.

And "if the indicators are not there, we will not deconfinate on May 11" or then "more strictly", he warned.

The health situation will be studied locally, department by department, differentiated into "green" or "red".

But for all: no bar or restaurant, no cinema, no festival or major sporting event beyond 5,000 people, and especially no weekend at the beach and, preferably, no wedding, he warned, shattering hopes of newfound freedom.

First phase

In the best of cases, the head of government plans a first phase from May 11 to early June, followed by a second "until the summer", with many exceptions.

For this first set of measures, parents can, if they wish, send babies back to nurseries (in groups of ten maximum) and children to kindergarten and primary school from May 11.

But it is only from May 18, in the departments little infected, that the reopening of the colleges will be considered, starting with the 6th and 5th. The rest can only be considered at the end of May, particularly for high schools.

However, all food markets and shops will be able to reopen, with the exception of cafes, bars and restaurants, the fate of which will be reviewed at the end of May for possible reopening on June 2. As for the major popular events, they remain suspended at least until September. This effectively cancels multiple events such as the Colmar Wine Fair. The fate of the Cannes Festival remains unclear.

For the world of work, Edouard Philippe has "urged" companies to maintain telework as much as possible and to ensure that workers are equipped with masks if not. Masks which will be made compulsory in public transport and now deemed "preferable" in many cases, after having been advised since March.

The elderly are called to caution, limiting contact, and going out.

The local adaptation of the deconfinement, said Edouard Philippe, will be the subject of "concertation and adaptation of the plan to the realities on the ground" with local officials and elected officials, Wednesday and Thursday.

The stakes are high: revive the economy without triggering a second outbreak of the epidemic, even if the number of patients in intensive care continues to decrease. Monday evening, the virus had killed 23,293 people in France (+437 in 24 hours).

However, the authorities clearly fear a "relaxation that we feel rising in the country", hammered the Prime Minister.

Specific vote

The bill extending the state of health emergency for two months, until July 24, will also be presented on Saturday in the Council of Ministers and examined next week in Parliament. This law makes it possible to take measures by decree - and sanctions - organizing containment, restricting traffic and limiting gatherings ...

After the Prime Minister's speech, the plan was to be debated for 2 hours 30 minutes by the 75 deputies physically present, then put to the vote.

In a first movement, the opposition judged the plan "hazardous" (Jean-Luc Mélenchon for LFI) or "difficult to apply" (Damien Abad, LR).

On the other hand, the Prime Minister postponed the debate on the sensitive project of tracing StopCovid mobile data and announced a "specific vote" on the subject.

The questions of public liberties "seem to me to be well founded. They must be asked. They must be debated", he stressed, which EELV welcomed.

Approving or not approving this deconfinement plan will be "probably one of the heaviest decisions that a parliamentarian will have had to take since the Second World War", according to PS leader, Olivier Faure.

The presidential majority risks being the only one to vote for: the oppositions of the right as of the left denounced a vote under pressure, while they discovered the measures at the same time as the rest of the French.

Thanks to its comfortable majority, voting should only be a formality for the government.

In advance, LR, LFI and the PS had, in particular, criticized the return of students to school on a voluntary basis and wondered about the logistics accompanying this semi-return to normal.

Responding to editorials reporting dissension at the top of the state between Matignon and the Elysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron castigated Tuesday those who "are trying to divide" the pair: "The entire executive is fully aligned in this crisis" he assured during the Council of Ministers, according to concordant sources.