INTERVIEW
You will now need to cover yourself up to drink your coffee outside in winter. Among the first measures inspired by the proposals of the Citizen's Climate Convention, the government has decided to ban braziers, gas radiators and other heating devices that keep cafes and restaurants terraces alive all year round. A decision not really to the taste of restaurateurs. "Our companies today are fighting for their survival and we have just announced a measure that will have a considerable impact on their activity", deplores Europe 1 Didier Chenet, president of the National Group of independent hotel and catering.
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The ban on heated terraces, already experienced in Rennes, was one of the 146 proposals of the Citizen's Convention for the climate adopted by Emmanuel Macron. The measure will be adopted by regulation in the coming months, together with the obligation for restaurants and stores air-conditioned in summer or heated in winter to close their doors to avoid energy loss. On leaving the Council for Ecological Defense, Minister for Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili denounced "ecological aberrations".
Terraces represent 30% of turnover
"We cannot, for the simple comfort of not having to open the door of a store, air-condition the street in the middle of summer when it is 30 degrees. And we cannot heat terraces at full capacity either. in the middle of winter when it's zero degrees for the simple pleasure of drinking your coffee on the terrace while you are hot, ”explained the Minister. But for Didier Chenet, president of the National Group of Independents of the Hotel and Restaurant Industry, it is "a destructive measure of activity".
According to him, this ban risks dealing a fatal blow to restaurant owners already weakened by the health crisis. "The terraces, on average, over the year, it is 30% of the turnover of the establishments", underlines it. Well aware of this danger, Barbara Pompili specified that this ban would come into force at the earliest in spring 2021. "Can Mrs. Pompili say that the health crisis will be over next winter? We hope so but nobody will knows when we will be able to remove the constraints that are degrading the activity of the sector. It is out of the question that we apply such a measure as long as the crisis lasts ", warns Didier Chenet.
Restaurant owners ask to be able to negotiate
He also regrets that professionals in the sector have not been invited to negotiate. "The President of the Republic has promised consultation and, once again, there has been no consultation. It is a declaration that arrives and then what may happen, the restorers must align themselves. no way of doing things! The hotel and catering industry is 8% of the GDP. We deserve better than an oukase to apply without flinching ", storms the president of the independent hotel and catering industry.
"We are fully aware that efforts must be made in terms of ecology. We have also made proposals in this direction to the Minister, particularly with regard to waste management," said Didier Chenet, who now calls on the government: "we are ready to discuss".