INTERVIEW
"It is a distressing situation for them and for the families." As the victims of the coronavirus multiply around the world, around 850,000 French people remain stranded abroad to date. "Commercial flights cancel one after the other," explains Anne Genetet, LREM deputy for French nationals abroad, invited to Europe 1 on Thursday morning. And sighs: "It's a terrible hassle."
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Among them, 50,000 people stranded outside the European Union are said to be "transient" French people, on vacation for example, or who have gone to visit their families. Their repatriation is well underway, and will continue in the days to come. "They were 130,000 last week," said Anne Genetet.
"Some sleep on the street"
The bulk of the contingent, or about 800,000 people, are the French who have been living abroad for a long time: expatriates and exchange students in particular. "Many workers lose their jobs, and therefore their residence permits," deplores the member. Because the confinement pushes for example many shops or restaurant to dismiss young French people coming to work abroad. "In Australia for example, some people have no resources at all, and sleep on the streets," says Anne Genetet.
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To help them, the consular authorities cut down, she says, "a crazy job". The consulates are trying to find places in planes still in circulation, and additional accommodation for those in greatest difficulty. "The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, talks to his counterparts every day to coordinate. We are trying to exert pressure locally on the authorities so that they let us land a plane and make it leave," said the deputy.
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As borders close more and more tightly around the world, the repatriation of the French has become a headache. "In Lima, the military airport had to be opened to repatriate the French, because the civil airport was already closed ...", says Anne Genetet.
Another complex case: the French stranded abroad and affected by Covid-19. In New Zealand, for example, the confinement of a patient lasts a month, and the authorities refuse to allow an infected person to board before the end of the period.
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