• Thursday, Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, announced that health passes will be mandatory to access the Christmas markets.

  • Town halls that had not planned a closed market or with restricted access are caught off guard.

  • This Friday, however, the decree was still not published, leaving the municipalities in the dark.

Pass or not pass? Before Olivier Véran's announcements on Thursday aimed at containing the rebound of Covid-19, the rule was relatively simple. As soon as a Christmas market was closed, it was then considered an establishment open to the public (ERP) and had to require a health pass at the entrance, as do bars, restaurants and other structures.

But now, "with regard to Christmas markets, their access will also now be subject to the health pass," said the Minister of Health. A declaration which, for the time being, has not been found in the decrees published on November 26, but which took town halls by surprise. It's not easy to change plans for a short-lived market overnight and improvise a closing. "It will be very complicated", sums up the side of the town hall of Aix-en-Provence, whose Christmas market occupies the Cours Mirabeau, served by many perpendiculars. "The market is secure, and the course pedestrianized but not closed", explains the municipality. A satisfactory device for the Departmental Directorate of Public Security, which ensures the security of these events, in the light, among other things, of vigipirate measures.

Residents who would like to know

With its 86 chalets, the La Garde Christmas market, with 25,000 inhabitants (Var), is considered the largest in the region.

"We had already planned a control of health passes for the part located on the Place de la République", details Sophie Quignon, in charge of press relations.

“But for the area of ​​the esplanade, including games and other rides, we had not planned.

There too, uncertainty reigns this Friday, where exchanges with the prefecture are increasing.

"We do not yet know which direction it will take and we are starting to have a lot of questions from residents who would like to know how it will turn out".

Conversely, there are cities for which these announcements do not change anything.

In Cannes, Nice, or Marseille, Christmas markets have been set up in fenced spaces, a little in anticipation, but above all to meet the need for public safety.

Like the one located in the Old Port, in a largely open space, the Marseille town hall had little other solution than to close, and therefore to impose the sanitary pass.

The only change in these spaces, "the mask becomes compulsory again in areas with high concentration", indicates the prefecture.

"But if the numbers are not good, we will have to take action," she warns this Friday.

"We are a little taken aback"

The small town of Allauch, very close to Marseille, has prepared for this eventuality. Its Christmas market, open and spread throughout the old village, will be held over three days, from December 8 to 10. "We have provided additional means to control, if necessary, the passes on the various accesses", informs Lionel De Cala, the mayor.

In Fréjus, where Mayor David Rachline is notoriously not a supporter of the health pass, we "first want to preserve the Christmas holidays".

The municipality will therefore do “everything to apply the instructions,” explains Bryan Masson, of the mayor's office.

“But we are a little taken aback.

We have to set up barriers, organize a direction of movement and engage additional resources very quickly.

It is extremely complicated, it costs money and it is the municipalities that bear the burden of the new restrictions, as they have been for two years ”.

In the absence of a decree formally making the necessary pass compulsory, the prefectures will have control over this decision, and may make it on a case-by-case basis.

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  • Coronavirus

  • Health pass

  • Covid 19

  • Christmas market

  • Nice

  • Society

  • Marseilles

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