Summer is here, synonymous with many vacations, beaches, aperitifs, and dancing until the end of the night. But this year, for the party, we will have to be satisfied with an enclosure and three friends in a living room. No electro set at the Rex, no foam party in the Camargue, no dancefloors oozing in the moist heat of the seaside resorts. Clubs and discos did not have the green light to reopen on June 2, just like restaurants, "seated" bars or libertine clubs which have any license to exchange fluids between consenting and… lying adults .

Reason invoked: ban on opening night establishments where the public remains standing. "And we don't go to a club - sometimes ten meters underground - to stay seated. Our promise is dance, we can't compromise on that," recognizes Frantz Steinbach, federator of the "Night Sector" Committee. , festive musical places & of life ". The committee was created on May 15, in full confinement, to represent the interests of the entire holiday ecosystem (establishments, producers and event organizers) with the government.

Among the first to close, the clubs are therefore the last to be still subject to administrative closure, until an unknown date. According to the latest news, their reopening is not scheduled before September.

During questions to the government on July 8, LR MP for Saône et Loire, Josiane Corneloup, went to the front to "alert the Prime Minister to the economic and financial disaster that risks decimating a profession if nothing is done". Without specifying a deadline, the Minister of Health and Solidarity Olivier Véran confirmed in the Chamber that "France has decided not to reopen discotheques as they are, taking into account the health situation and the risks".

💬 - @J_Corneloup: "Minister of the Interior, only nightclubs are still subject to administrative closure to this day. What solution will you propose to them whose only request is to be able to work again? " #QAG - #DirectAN 🔴 pic.twitter.com/vJR3ESDs9s

- MPs The Republicans (@Republicains_An) July 8, 2020

With the redesign, "we mechanically take several weeks in sight"

The reshuffle did not help the industry. Despite the urgency displayed by the government of Jean Castex, the changes in interlocutors in the ministries have only pushed the file of discotheques under a pile of other "TTU" subjects (very very urgent). "Mechanically, that puts us in sight for a few weeks", regrets Frantz Steinbach who juggles between the Ministries of the Interior, Health and Foreign Affairs, which are responsible for tourism. "The teams in the cabinets are not trained, the next interdepartmental meetings (RIM) are not yet scheduled and we are well aware that our file is an emergency among others," he acknowledges.

The National Union of Discotheques and Places of Leisure (SNDLL) noted for its part on July 7 that during his first speech as Minister of Culture, the previous evening, "Ms. Bachelot (...) mentioned everything except ... discos! Bad sign. " 

While waiting for new interlocutors to take hold of the file, nearly 1,600 establishments and 120,000 jobs are threatened, recalls Josiane Corneloup, if "the imminent authorization to open is not granted". "No industry can resist the closure for seven months", underlines the deputy who fears that these establishments will disappear from "our cultural, economic and festive heritage".

"We make gross margins of 5 to 7% per establishment so without urgent measures, bankruptcy is inevitable. And it is not state aid - as essential as it is - that can keep an industry inactive for more than six months, "says Frantz Steinbach, who already calculated losses at an average of 80,000 euros per establishment as of May 15. A sum that can be doubled today, estimates the spokesperson, also manager of three night establishments in Paris and La Rochelle.

The Sector Committee requests, among other things, the establishment of a sectoral compensation fund and the extension of the partial activity regime until September 2021.

The party at all costs: the proliferation of free parties

Until last week, some owners of night establishments still hoped for a reopening on July 11, the day after the end of the state of health emergency in France. A health protocol was even drawn up by the Committee. "We have had positive feedback from the health authorities," said Frantz Steinbach. "Organizing festive events is our job. We offer a framework and an obligation of means to the party. The authorities could draw on our experience and trust us, but nobody wants to take the risk or the responsibility reopening, "he laments.

And as it is "difficult to imagine a summer without holidays", as was pleased to repeat, according to our sources, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State in charge of Tourism (and the file of the night) under the government of Edouard Philippe, the celebrations take place despite everything. But outside the box. Since the deconfinement, festive gatherings in the streets or free parties in places kept more or less secret have multiplied in France. And you don't have to search long on social networks to find new dates planned for these clandestine techno parties during the months of July and August.

"Unfair competition", deplores Frantz Steinbach who also underlines all the dangers run by those who attend these "wild" evenings where no health or safety measures are respected. "Summer is coming. Of course people want to party. Clubs are like a beacon at night. But in wanting to regulate, the state only deregulates and it relies on randomness, "he warns.

RELAY PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PROHIBITED HOLIDAY COLLECTIVE. "CALL FOR GENERAL MOBILIZATION ON THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 21 ...

Posted by Agenda Teuf Free Party on Wednesday March 11, 2020

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