Edouard Philippe, May 4, 2020 before the Senate. - Senat / Cecilia Lerouge / SIPA

Edouard Philippe met with refusal from the Upper House on Monday. The Senate, with a right-wing majority, did not validate its deconfinement strategy, with 89 votes to 81, with a "massive" abstention from elected LRs and a vote against socialist and communist groups.

Presented by the Prime Minister, this plan was approved by the National Assembly last Tuesday by 368 votes to 100, and 103 abstentions. These two votes, in application of article 50-1 of the Constitution, have above all a symbolic value and no impact on the launching of the deconfinement, planned from May 11.

A “risky” bet

In the Senate, 135 LR senators abstained and 7 voted in favor. The leader of the right-wing senators Bruno Retailleau criticized the government for a "double or double bet": "nobody can say if you will have enough masks next week to protect all French people" against coronavirus, a he warned. On the left, the majority-communist group CRCE voted against, as did the socialists (68 against, 2 abstentions and one vote for).

In addition to the LREMs, which were unanimous in supporting the government, the groups Les Indépendants and RDSE (with a radical majority) have largely validated this deconfinement plan. The Union centrist group mostly abstained. At LREM, François Patriat praised the government's "pragmatic management", despite a "risky" deconfinement.

A plan to end containment

While some local elected officials contest the reopening of schools from May 11, the Prime Minister stressed the "probable time bomb" that would constitute "school dropout" and the "catastrophe" of closed schools for children and adolescents " the most vulnerable ”.

Edouard Philippe also insisted on the “social and economic cost” of confinement which “tears apart our social fabric” and “aggravates the difficulties encountered by certain families, certain sectors, certain territories”. "Economic life must resume imperatively and quickly, with adjustments, with good will," he stressed. The Prime Minister also announced aid of 200 euros which will be paid to 800,000 young people under 25 "precarious or modest".

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