Under the sign of the vaccine

We sit in the kitchen with Jacques and talk about life.

It is incomprehensible to the mind that a Frenchman would let a completely unfamiliar person into the house, and even pour out his soul, talk about his salary and expenses.

But here, as they say, everything is so hot that you want to scream.

Because of COVID, he lost his job: he was engaged in catering - he provided food for mass events.

The company somehow pulled it out for six months in quarantine, but then went bankrupt.

Two children, school, clubs, daughter plays football.

In an apartment building in the suburbs of Paris, the housing and communal services started a major overhaul at the wrong time - you need to pay a large fee, they do not give an extension.

The old car broke down as luck would have it, electricity and water bills come as before.

And there are simply no vacancies.

Many in his sector could not stand it.

“And what should I do, where is all this promised assistance, after all, they said that they would not allow a single bankruptcy,” Jacques laments.

But the stadiums are still closed, along with theaters, cinemas, concert venues, restaurants, bars and cafes.

It would seem like a vaccine!

Miracle, salvation!

The euphoria from the first injections quickly passed.

Ahead is not a return to normal life, as expected, but a third quarantine, as the head of the French Ministry of Health Olivier Veran said.

Since January 2, in some departments of the country, the norms are being tightened - the curfew will be not from eight, but from six in the evening.

After a tough sanitary year with all the depression, illness, death, divorce, and a surge in domestic violence, 2021 seems to be having an equally severe financial hangover.

The French already have a phrase - “a sacrificed generation”.

This is about young people under 30 who have nothing to pay loans, have nothing to live on, have to stand in line for rations from charities and drop out of school in order to make odd jobs.

Yes, even large companies such as Airbus are forced to cut staff, large networks are closing outlets.

The French budget deficit is growing, the national debt in 2021 may reach 125% of GDP.

The idea of ​​introducing an electronic health passport into life and indicating there who was vaccinated and who was not, at the initial stage will not greatly affect the passenger traffic, because the first vaccines are given to pensioners.

The economically active population will be pricked already in the summer area, for now voluntarily, although in April the French authorities will try to pass a bill under this case, which will limit the unvaccinated in rights.

They will not be allowed on board the plane, they will not be hired, they will not be enrolled in school.

I don't think such a law will pass easily.

So pogroms and protests to French cities are guaranteed.

I walk through Nanterre and reflect on what it is like to be a French policeman now.

After all, they, too, are probably terribly tired of raking off the black block every week, playing cat and mouse in the tear gas clubs, investigating crimes, the number of which has increased dramatically this year, and still being constantly the object of hatred.

Recently, after a domestic quarrel at home, a man shot three gendarmes who came to the woman's aid.

Obviously, the impoverishment of society leads to its savagery and bitterness, and this applies to everyone, including the police.

Even President Emmanuel Macron accused her of bias and violence.

Outraged law enforcement officers went on strike.

I can understand them too, because their work is very nervous, worn out.

And there are more attacks on them, on average 20 cases per day across the country.

We meet with my interlocutor not on the street, but in the garden in the backyard of the house, only there, outside of work, he is not afraid to put a police bandage on his arm.

We are talking about Islamists in France, the situation is difficult, terrorists are now mostly loners, there is not enough power to keep track of known forces, we still need to somehow identify new ones, monitor the network, control migrants (there are only about a hundred thousand illegal), and then they will soon be released from prisons convinced radical fanatics who have served time.

The burden on the police is such that people break down, the number of suicides is growing.

He considers the law on combating separatism, which will be considered in January, useful, but too soft.

And what the society itself thinks about the current course of the authorities will become clear in the summer.

France will host regional elections - the main barometer of sentiment ahead of the presidential election, which is just over a year away.

Parliamentary elections will take place in the fall in Germany.

The year will be a turning point, an entire era will end.

It is hard to imagine German politics without Chancellor Angela Merkel, she has been at the helm for the past 15 and a half years.

But he will not run again and this year he will end his political career.

Probably now, in retirement, she will be able to fulfill her old dream - to ride the Trans-Siberian Railway.

But my neighbor, a former MEP from Great Britain, did not achieve the abolition of Brexit, he participated in all the demonstrations, signed angry petitions, but it turns out that the votes of those who have been living outside the island for a long time were not taken into account in the referendum, they simply were not legally allowed to vote.

Now he grieves in Brussels over a cup of tea with milk.

And on the other side of the English Channel, people swallowed up by the mutant virus seem to be happy with the separation, although large factories are slowly preparing to close on the island in the new year and drag production to EU countries so as not to pay duties.

Scotland is also indignant, considering the deal unprofitable for itself.

The popularity of Prime Minister Nikola Sturgeon has now skyrocketed due to a competent sanitary policy during a pandemic; in the May elections, she can win an absolute majority in parliament and will seek independence.

Boris Johnson understands everything, because he has already said more than once that he will not allow the Scots a second referendum until at least 2024.

After all, it can be carried out by mutual agreement only once a generation, and there was already one in 2014, then 55.3% were against independence.

But then there was still no Brexit.

Now the situation has changed dramatically, "yes" can gain 51% of the vote, these are the data of the latest November polls.

Hot Scottish heads suggest not waiting for permission from London and go according to the Catalan scenario.

Three years ago, a plebiscite was held there unilaterally, which Madrid called illegal.

The supporters of independence prevailed, after which the President of the Generalité, Carles Puigdemont, proclaimed the creation of the Catalan Republic, which lasted exactly eight seconds.

Puigdemont suspended the decree, hoping that the Spanish authorities would negotiate.

And then began arrests, sentences, prison terms, exile and split among those who fought for independence.

Catalonia will have new elections in February that, with an eye on Scotland, could rock the region again.

But for now, the main question that worries everyone: when will the epidemic end and when will our life return to normal?

There is a positive aftertaste from the vaccine, but along with it there is a feeling that this theme will dominate at least the entire first half of the new year.

The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.