Covid-19: main reactions from the business world to Emmanuel Macron's speech - France 24

Paris (AFP)

President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday a re-containment for a minimum of one month to try to stem the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic.

Here are the first reactions Wednesday evening from employer and union organizations.

Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, President of Medef:

"This re-containment will cost the country between 50 and 75 billion euros in GDP and cause considerable economic and human damage.

We need a real consultation with the professionals concerned, and mainly the traders, so that we can define protocols allowing their reopening from November 9.

It is not in the shops that contamination takes place but in the private sphere and yet it is they who are penalized.

I understand their dismay and their anger.

It is imperative to chart a perspective.

We cannot afford to confine and deconfin every three months.

The virus is here for a long time.

We have to imagine a way of living and working with it now. "

François Asselin, President of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) at AFP:

"What Emmanuel Macron told us, it already exists. The solidarity fund which goes up to 10,000 euros already exists. For the moment, nothing new unfortunately for the companies which will be strongly impacted.

I'm really waiting for the rent problem to be resolved, for their business losses to be compensated, because there will be no other alternative but to go to the commercial court .

Economically it is a killing somewhere, if there is not a support plan commensurate with the efforts required of them (...).

We are now waiting for specific elements to be reassured. "

CFDT Executive Board:

“The gravity of the situation requires everyone's responsibility and respect for the measures announced. Everything must be done to curb the epidemic and allow healthcare teams to accomplish their missions.

For eight months, we have been going through a completely new period.

The workers are not responsible for it.

They should not be the first victims.

The measures intended to protect jobs and incomes and to save skills from an economic crisis whose timeline is uncertain must all be renewed without exception.

Teleworking should be generalized wherever possible.

The most precarious people, those who have fallen or are on the verge of falling into poverty, must be more assisted and supported.

Paying one-off bonuses, important as it is, is not enough.

The CFDT reiterates its demand for an increase in social minima and opening up of the RSA to those under 25. "

The Union of local businesses (U2P) (craftsmen, liberal professions and small traders):

The measures presented Wednesday are "difficult to understand and dangerous for a whole section of the economy".

"How can we justify the unilateral decision to close a large number of companies when (...) most of the amplification of the pandemic comes from the private sphere?"

"We are losing the three main engines necessary for the life of companies: confidence, activity and visibility", warned its president Laurent Munerot.

Roland Héguy, president of Umih (Union des métiers des industries de l'hôtellerie), the main hotel trade union, told AFP:

"The epidemic and the economy are out of control. Bars and restaurants are singled out, one has the impression that we are the ones who are spreading the epidemic. From this weekend thousands of traders do not will no longer have one euro in revenue but still fixed charges 30% of our companies risk not surviving.

[On the aid announced] Above all, we want immediate implementation.

We cannot announce aid every two weeks, when we have already lost a lot of time, on the payment of rents for example.

A business manager must be able to know the help he will have at the end of November, December and until the end of the health situation to decide whether to continue his activity. "

Emmanuel Le Roch, general delegate of the Federation for town planning and the development of specialized trade, at AFP.

"We are less shocked than in March, but we still had hopes that the measures put in place to protect customers will allow us to remain open, especially because the months of November and December are very important for the business. .

The question is really that of survival.

The speed of aid will generate the confidence necessary to give yourself the best chance of not dying.

We cannot sacrifice to the current difficulties people who will be impoverished tomorrow, and potentially for a long time ”.

Didier Chenet, president of the National Group of Independents (GNI) at AFP:

"The shock is very hard. We have to change our method. In a fog like this, we need more than ever concrete measures (...) which are part of time and which are applied immediately. rent issue must be resolved next week.

I think that the ministers (Bruno Le Maire and Alain Griset, Editor's note) wet their shirts, but behind the administration (of Bercy) does not follow and even puts sticks in our wheels.

Politics must regain power over technocracy. "

Jacques Creyssel, head of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD), to AFP:

"These are very difficult measures for the business, and many are unfortunately going to be forced to close at a critical time of the year, in the midst of Christmas preparations and after two years when it had been extremely complicated. We hope that the little glimmer of hope that the president brought at the end of the speech will be able to materialize ... "

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