Paris (AFP)

Parisian department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps in the first place, are closed to the public until July 10, in application of the government decision preventing shopping centers of more than 40,000 m2 from reopening in Ile-de-France, announced Wednesday the Paris police headquarters.

Other decrees along the same lines have been taken concerning other shopping centers in Paris and its region: Aéroville, Beaugrenelle, Forum des Halles and Italy 2.

The date of July 10 also corresponds to the extension of the state of health emergency, voted by the Parliament last week.

But, a spokesperson for Galeries Lafayette told AFP, "this decision does not prevent the order from being lifted at any time if the conditions are met". "We continue to exchange very regularly with the prefecture," she added.

On May 7, after Prime Minister Édouard Philippe's speech specifying the terms of the deconfinement, the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire had specified that shopping centers of more than 40,000 square meters in France, the reopening of which was uncertain, could reopen May 11 "in agreement with the prefects, except in Ile-de-France" due to persistent health risks.

The Paris region is classified as "red" for the risks linked to the Covid-19 epidemic.

In its decrees, the prefecture of police considers that, in view of these measures, the opening of Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, both located on Boulevard Haussmann and its surroundings, "could, in the current situation, only encourage the spread of Covid-19 virus and endanger the lives of the people. "

In a press release, the UNSA du Printemps union, while taking note of these orders for the two brands, said "to be concerned about the consequences of this measure for employment in small and medium-sized commercial enterprises, for which Department Stores Boulevard Haussmann are an essential vector for their development. "

"The UNSA-Printemps will enter, as of tomorrow, in national negotiations with the Printemps management and the social partners, of the CGC and the CGT, to set up local Covid-19 commissions", responsible for "ensuring the deployment and compliance with the health measures presented in the ESCs and develop "preventive measures and practices according to the evolution of the epidemic," so as to adapt them to the circumstances.

© 2020 AFP