Deconfinement in France: the hour of truth

Text by: RFI Follow

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe presents this Tuesday at 3 p.m. to the National Assembly the plan for deconfinement in France before the deputies who are called to debate and vote in the process.

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Emmanuel Macron had started the countdown by announcing the release of the confinement for May 11. Now is the time to tell the French how it will be organized . "  It was easier to impose confinement than to manage deconfinement,  " sighs an elected representative En Marche. The result is the multiplication of rumors and hypotheses that have circulated before being denied in recent days, sometimes by the president himself , as was the case with a regionalized deconfinement that Emmanuel Macron has excluded.

The French government must engage in a real balancing act consisting in restarting the economy without relaunching the epidemic. The crisis was very concretely reflected in the unemployment figures in March in France, with a record increase of 7.1% over one month (+246,100 people). Two weeks before the start of deconfinement, there are many questions: where to make the masks mandatory? Which tests and for whom? Reopening of shops everywhere or in French regions? What about companies? And a summer vacation?

Contradictions with scientific advice

The Scientific Council responsible for informing the French government delivered on Saturday evening its recommendations for a “gradual and controlled lifting of containment”. Six prerequisites must be met, he writes. We note, among other things, a reconstitution of hospital resources, whether human or material, an ability to massively screen for Covid-19 and then isolate the patients, the maintenance of social distancing measures in public space, as well than wearing a generalized mask. On all these points, scientists and government speak with one voice.

But between public health imperatives and the revival of the economy, 
the executive is faced with choices that place it in contradiction with the Council. The most striking example is the reopening of schools on May 11, which scientists are opposed to. The issue of public transportation is also a thorny one. The authorities want the network to operate at 70% of its capacity during deconfinement, an objective incompatible with the rules of distancing advocated by the Council.

His opinion is not binding, however, the politician has all his leeway. With a risk, however: that we refer to the words of Emmanuel Macron during his first speech devoted to the epidemic. 
The head of state had then declared that his actions would be guided by his confidence in science. 

Far too fast vote for the opposition

After the last presidential arbitration on the return of students to school, transport, wearing masks, tests, the application of tracing the population, Edouard Philippe will therefore present the framework of deconfinement this Tuesday afternoon before the deputies to have it validated in the process by the national representation. For the government, MPs should consider themselves happy. "  Edouard Philippe could have been content with a press conference  ," says one. But this debate followed by a vote is far from satisfying the oppositions which demanded 24 hours between the two. That would have made it possible to organize a group meeting "  to find a common position, to have time to exchange and especially to have a return on the declaration of the Prime Minister  ", argues Damien Abad, the boss of the group Les Républicains to the Assembly. "  We don't have a text in advance, we vote a little blind,  " he laments.

The Communists, themselves, would have liked more time, in order to work out a plan which made consensus. “  When we have an important piece of legislation, which changes our social model for example, we take three weeks to discuss in the National Assembly. There, we are on a plan of deconfinement unprecedented, it can not be decreed from above and be voted on a slap  , criticizes the national secretary of the PC Fabien Roussel.

Another problem: digital tracing will not be the subject of a separate vote. Some, like the Insoumis, denounce a political maneuver. "  It is a way of drowning the vote possibly against deputies of the running Republic. It is a violence to our democracy. We find this unacceptable,  ”exclaims Val-de-Marne MP Mathilde Panot. The government defends itself by emphasizing that the members will be consulted again. Certain aspects of the deconfinement will appear in a bill which should be submitted to Parliament before May 11.

The precedent that can be created with this application can be formidable.

Olivier Faure

Marine de La Moissonnière

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