Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, and Alain Griset, Minister responsible for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, received this Tuesday, January 5, the representatives of restaurateurs.
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Jacques Witt
Emmanuel Macron had conditioned the reopening of restaurants to a number of daily contaminations of less than 5,000 cases, with January 20 retained.
The restaurateurs, received this Tuesday in Bercy, say they have learned of the postponement of this date
indefinitely
.
Faced with this lack of visibility, they say they are desperate, and many fear having to go out of business without additional help.
According to some members of the delegation, new aid should appear, such as a new loan equivalent to 25% of turnover and repayable over "ten years".
No good surprise for restaurateurs.
Received this Tuesday by Bruno Le Maire and Alain Griset, Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium Enterprises, the representatives of the sector were confirmed that they could not reopen on January 20 as planned.
Emmanuel Macron had conditioned this reopening to a contamination ceiling limited to 5,000 cases per day.
But last Friday, we were still at 19.348 in 24 hours.
Desperate, the restaurateurs demand more from the government.
The fear of going out of business
“We knew they weren't going to let us reopen.
We see the numbers ”.
Annoyed, Charles, owner of the restaurant La Cime, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, does not hide his concern.
At noon this Tuesday, when it should be the shot, he looks at his deserted establishment.
He has offered take-away sales since the start of the crisis, but thinks of stopping: “Everyone is telecommuting, the offices are empty.
The specter of closure hovers and he gives himself two months to redress the bar.
Through two solutions: immediate, improbable reopening, or more aid: “They [the government] talk about it all the time, but in reality, they only cover a small part of our expenses.
"
A few tens of meters further on, Isabelle * prepares the take-out sale of the restaurant in which she is employed, she who is the only one who is not on short-time work.
She shares Charles's observation: the restaurants will not reopen for months: "They want to stop teleworking, the children continue to go to school and now there is this English virus [the variant of Covid-19 detected also in France].
The state will have to take charge of all our shortfall, otherwise we will be shut down before May, and I am unemployed.
"
Long-term visibility and action
The concern also and above all lies in the lack of visibility over the weeks and months to come.
It was also one of the requests of the delegation received this afternoon at Bercy: a firm and final reopening date.
This information, Amin, of the restaurant Aux Plumes in the rue Boulard (14th arrondissement), holds it: “We need to know where we are going, and we want to be warned beforehand, that we can prepare the stocks, the menu and organize the staff.
"
Restaurant owners also asked on Tuesday for aid to be maintained until the end of the epidemic.
But Laurent Villa, president of the Beefhouse restaurant group, fears a domino effect for the loans guaranteed by the State: “As it is gone, no one will be able to reimburse them.
The debts will accumulate and the bank rating of institutions will fall, so that they will no longer be able to borrow at the end of this crisis.
”Without counting the lessors who, according to him, had for a lot made efforts on the rents but started to claim their due.
“That's what the subsidies are for now, just to pay off the rent.
Hence his request: that bank ratings be frozen and that loans guaranteed by the state be transformed into quasi-equity for two years, to avoid a general collapse.
No reopening date but extended aid
At the end of the meeting in Bercy, the members of the delegation showed moderate satisfaction.
According to some of them, the government, wanting to avoid a third lockdown at all costs, refused to set a date for the reopening.
Bruno Le Maire, on the other hand, assured that the aid would be maintained until that date, and that some would be reinforced.
The loan guaranteed by the State should thus be extended by one year.
New aid, for a maximum amount of 25% of the establishments' turnover and repayable over ten years, should also be implemented.
Finally, the support of ten days of leave by the State, and for companies in sectors in difficulty, will be extended until March 31 (against January 31 until today).
On the other hand, the tax credits reserved for donors, to encourage them to support businesses, should be abolished for lack of results.
* The first name has been changed
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