REPORTAGE
A few days before the G7, which starts on Saturday in Biarritz and will be held until next Monday, traders of the resort enjoy the tourists ... as long as there is! During the meeting of the leaders of the major industrialized countries, the city center will be divided into two security zones. In the red area, called "enhanced protection", only residents and rights holders can walk on foot with a badge. Merchants therefore expect to see the streets emptied of their vacationers and potential customers. What generate worries.
All say it: they will lose money. Some accept it - they have no choice anyway, they say - but others are angry, like Françoise, who runs a ready-to-wear boutique. From the beginning of the week, "the car parks will be emptied and we will lose a week of work", she laments to Europe 1. "We are in high season, it is the most important month of the year, we are afraid of not having a client, I think it will be catastrophic ... "
Philippe, he has a reason, but like many traders, it is misunderstanding that dominates. "They do this in the month of August, at the height of the season, when there are the most people, that's ridiculous!" He says. "They should have done that a fortnight later, in September, it would have been a lot better," he says.
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A shot of (bad) advertising?
Quentin, who runs an oceanfront gift shop, already knows he will close his shop for the G7. "From Wednesday, everyone closes. (Matteo) Salvini ( the Minister of the Interior of the Italian Government, Italy who will be represented at the G7 by the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, ed ) will not come to buy cards (Angela) Merkel ( German Chancellor, editor's note ) does not eat sandwiches and I think they'll have something else to do but buy an ice cream, "he says. "It's advertising for Biarritz but what are we going to see on TV? Men in black suits with earpieces, snipers on the roofs ... It does not dream," said the trader.
And to face the shortfall, some stores will still have the opportunity to mount reimbursement files with the state.