REPORTAGE
>> For ten days, our reporter travels through Southern Europe to understand how our European neighbors are living their deconfinement, the reopening of borders, the approach of holidays, but also to take the pulse of the local economy. A trip from Italy to Greece, passing through the Balkans and the Adriatic coast. For the first stage of his European "deconfinement tour", Jean-Sébastien Soldaini stopped on the other side of the border, in Italy, more precisely in the city of Ventimiglia, very popular with French tourists. He recounts the first stage of his journey.
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A deserted border post ...
Entry into Italy is via the Menton border post. The place is deserted because at the time when I passed, the border was open only for those who had a specific reason to go to Italy. The filtering is carried out by the Italian army, it checks my papers and asks me to sign an authorization on the same model as the French displacement certificate during confinement. All the same, I am asked to detail my journey and the subject of my reports before having it signed and stamped by an officer.
The crowd at the border post in Menton is a taste of the one I will find in Ventimiglia. Photo credit: Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni / Europe 1
... just like the shops in Ventimiglia
Along the five kilometers that separate the border from the city of Ventimiglia, some street vendors have set up their stands. They mainly sell fruits and vegetables there. Just like the residents of Ventimiglia, for whom cross-border trade seems vital, they too await the arrival of French tourists. And we understand why: while June 2 is a holiday on the "Boot" [the feast of the Italian Republic, editor's note], and despite the superb weather, the Italians did not come to Ventimiglia: the beaches, bars and restaurants are deserted.
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It is on the passeggiata Cavalotti, the seafront, that I meet the gaze of Suzanna Spano, the owner of the restaurant "Il Brigantino" which overlooks the Ligurian Sea. Plexiglass visor placed askew and mask down on the chin, she sighs when she explains the "crossing" of this confinement to me. Her establishment, almost feet in the water, has been open since May 18, but when she takes a sad look at the sea, all she sees on the pebbles are perfectly aligned deckchairs ... but empty .
The beach is ready, only tourists are missing. Photo credit: Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni / Europe 1
If French tourists don't come, "we can close"
If she did not shut down, it was because she had "money on hand". It is also thanks to this that she was able to keep her employees while state aid is currently limited to "12 days' salary", she explains to me. "12 days in March and then nothing is hard. Italy is not like France: at home, the 31st is the 31st. You pay on time, not here! If we wait until Italy pays them, they starve. " So she made them do everything she could, painting, cleaning the bar, the beach ... Activities "so that they can eat and buy cigarettes. Because three months without working, so sparri [you shoot yourself, note], "she said to me, mimicking a pistol on her temple with her fingers.
>> REPORT - In Ventimiglia, we are impatiently awaiting the return of the French
Suzanna is not in high spirits, and the atmosphere on her beach party does not help her. The hope of seeing compatriots lie down in the sun on June 2, gone, she knows, everything rests on French tourists now that the border is open. "We really hope their return is 100% of our business. If they don't come we can close," she admits. This situation does not only concern restaurants, "but all sectors". Because with cheaper prices, "even plumbers come to buy equipment here".
Suzanna Spano hopes to see her restaurant and deckchairs fill up quickly with the opening of the border. Photo credit: Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni / Europe 1
Ventimiglia market, the last lifeline for a season that takes on water
Looking towards her desperately empty deckchairs, she tells me about the very popular Ventimiglia market which drains hundreds of cross-border customers every Friday. I understand that this is the last lifeline to try to limit the damage and save what can be saved from the tourist season in this city of 55,000 inhabitants. "Friday is a party, it's like there is a wedding every week along the promenade," she says, pointing to the asphalt that runs right past her establishment.
But this breath of fresh air is only expected on June 12, the time to put in place the necessary sanitary measures. "If there is no market, there are no French," she summed up, taking out her smartphone to launch the Italian anthem through the connected speakers of her restaurant, an attempt to attract the handful of people who wander on the seafront, in vain. So, as if to call the neighbors to the rescue, she changes her gun and broadcasts La Marseillaise .