Paris (AFP)

From Marine Le Pen to Ségolène Royal, several opposition figures criticized Wednesday the authorization given to supporters of Juventus Turin to go to Lyon during the coronavirus crisis, authorization still defended by the government and the majority.

"I think it is not reasonable to welcome them and that we are still faced with an inconsistency on the part of the government," denounced the president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen on France Inter.

Olympique Lyonnais welcomes Juventus in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. at Groupama Stadium, located in Décines-Charpieu in eastern Lyon. Almost 3,000 Italian supporters are expected, while Italy is the most affected European country with more than 370 cases and 12 deaths.

"Supporter of a precautionary principle", the LR deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti judged on Cnews that it would have been necessary at least "to prohibit" their arrival, denouncing a management "totally irresponsible" and "a form of inconsistency ": children returning from Italy are quarantined but we" bring at least 3,000 people "from" a very high risk area ".

On the left, Ségolène Royal estimated on France 2 that this decision "seems incoherent" and that "opinion does not understand it".

"Perhaps the government has information that in any case the public does not have, but I think that to avoid triggering panic, we must consider that the French people are mature, that they have the capacity to understand, provided he has the feeling that he is being told "things," insisted the former socialist presidential candidate of 2007.

"Is it reasonable to host this match?" Asked LFI MP Alexis Corbière before the Association of Parliamentary Journalists. According to him, "we must be very vigilant" even if "for the moment the situation in France is under control".

Government and majority defended the decision.

"There is no reason to prevent" the Italian supporters from going to the match, because "there are no patients identified in Turin", who "is 200 kilometers from the so-called Italian risk areas" , declared the Minister of Health Olivier Véran during the report of the Council of Ministers.

He also said that Italian supporters would be "in a dedicated forum" and that a "close information system" would be put in place.

"When it comes to a health crisis, you have to know how to keep reason, because when you have aspirations to govern - I am thinking in particular of Marine Le Pen - you must be able to have the reins of the country well in your hands and not not give in to panic, "tackled Sibeth Ndiaye, government spokesperson, at the exit of the Council of Ministers.

"At this stage, no epidemiologist in the colleges of experts we have recommends the closure of our borders," she added.

"Today, health watch and public health experts say it is not necessary" to prohibit the arrival of supporters, said on BFMTV Gabriel Attal, Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education.

As for the boss of LREM, Stanislas Guerini, he refuses to comment, deeming that it is up to "health authorities", and not politicians, to decide.

"When you face a virus, a pandemic, you have to have a spirit of responsibility and I believe that politicians must respect what the scientific authorities say," he argued on BFM Business.

Mr. Attal deemed "very serious" the words of Marine Le Pen, who had called on Tuesday to restore border controls, seeing "a political instrumentalization" on the part of the president of the RN whose "bottom of trade" is , according to him, "the fear and the worries of the French".

© 2020 AFP