Macron vs scientists: resist or confine?
Audio 02:49
French President Emmanuel Macron during the ACT-A videoconference meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, February 12, 2021 © Ian Langsdon / Pool via REUTERS
By: Valérie Gas Follow
6 min
Everyone was waiting for a new confinement in France.
And finally, there still hasn't been.
Emmanuel Macron did not choose this option despite strong warnings from doctors.
Since the start of the health crisis, scientists have made their voices heard and put the executive under pressure.
Publicity
Since the start of the epidemic, there has been an unprecedented media coverage of the words of doctors, starting with that of the President of the Scientific Council: Jean-François Delfraissy who recently sounded the alarm and called for emergency re-containment of France after having drawn up an alarming diagnosis of the health situation.
An adviser to the President of the Republic also regrets that Jean-François Delfraissy has "
set fire
" and that certain doctors take themselves for politicians: "
They have all nabbed the media codes… Each one goes there with his dramatic message
", he laments.
While another worries: “
It's anxious for people… it reinforces the idea that no one is in control of the situation.
"
The decision is political
And suddenly, the president decided not to follow the advice of scientists.
Emmanuel Macron thus recalled that the decision is political.
Scientists advise, the Head of State makes the choices.
Everyone must be in their role.
And for François Bayrou, who is one of the president's relatives, "
by refusing confinement against those who said it was inevitable, Emmanuel Macron has shown that he was capable of freeing himself from pressure
".
At the Élysée, we keep repeating it: confinement is the ultimate solution, the one we resolve as a last resort.
Emmanuel Macron is trying to find "
the right balance
" between health and the life of the French after a year of crisis with all the economic, social and psychological consequences that have arisen.
This is why the option recommended by scientists to set up “
preventive
”
containment
to avoid the explosion of contaminations with the emergence of new variants of the virus, was not retained.
The executive believes that at this stage, there is no effect of the spread of these variants in France.
The now famous R0, the reproduction rate of the virus, "
does not take off
".
We do not know "
from what level of the variant, it will explode
", we are told at Matignon.
Macron takes a risk
By not confining, Emmanuel Macron is taking a risk as he had already done when he announced a gradual exit from the first confinement on May 11, a little alone against everyone and even against his Prime Minister at the time, Édouard Philippe .
Today, Emmanuel Macron is betting to resist as long as possible the re-containment against and against scientists.
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French politics
Emmanuel Macron
Coronavirus
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