Paris (AFP)

The Minister for SMEs Alain Griset announced on Friday financial aid for nightclubs, which had been closed for four months due to a pandemic and which urged the government to grant him a "rescue plan".

At the end of a meeting with representatives of the nightlife, the minister confirmed that "there was no scheduled date for the reopening" of establishments in the sector, while unveiling a support system fixed costs of festive establishments.

Rents, water and electricity bills and other costs will be covered up to a maximum of 15,000 euros per month, for three months, instead of 5,000 euros initially provided for in the aid measures for companies threatened with bankruptcy.

"This ceiling covers the charges of around 85% to 90% of establishments in the nightlife", Alain Griset told the press. The ministry estimates the total cost of the measure at 50 million euros for 1,600 companies concerned.

Nightlife establishments will benefit from exemptions to have access to aid from the solidarity fund for businesses set up to deal with the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.

The criteria of turnover, number of employees and loss of income will no longer apply to companies in this sector in order "not to have any risk of business closures," said Alain Griset.

Nightclubs were particularly worried about the risk of no longer being able to pay their rents and of being evicted from their places of activity by the owners from September 10, the date of end of application of an order prohibiting the eviction of beneficiaries of the solidarity fund.

Representatives of the sector, the National Group of Independent Hotel and Catering Industry (GNI-HCR), the French Association of Discotheque and Dance Center Operators (AFEDD), the Union of Hospitality Trades and Industries (UMIH) and the National Union of Discotheques and Leisure Places (SNDLL) welcomed the consideration of the difficulties of their businesses.

"The meeting was interesting, with very rapid decision-making which will allow us to hold out for a few more weeks with this crisis", declared Michaël Fox, of the GNI.

"Today, we are on a drip but it is not with aid that we are going to get by, it is absolutely necessary that we can meet the Minister of Health to find out how to reopen as quickly as possible", however Mr. Fox added.

The SNDLL regretted for its part that "the content of the exchanges does not meet all [their] demands", in particular the reopening of establishments.

The Committee of the "Night, festive musical places and life" sector is worried about the exclusion of other "festive activities still confined" from this system, such as "shows, standing concerts, festive bar establishments standing, clubs and festivals ", and says it will seize parliamentarians and the government.

Bercy specifies for its part that the situation of these companies has been taken into account in the tourism plan and that some establishments are authorized to open, at least partially, and earn revenue, unlike the discotheques closed since March.

On July 12, during a demonstration alongside some 200 professionals in the sector in Paris, Matthieu Lebrun, the spokesperson for the managers of Normandy nightclubs, estimated that "half of the clubs [were going] to disappear", ie approximately 800 nightclubs, if a reopening was not decreed until September.

© 2020 AFP