Live, coronavirus, last minute
Germany.Merkel will give a seven-day truce to citizens to celebrate Christmas in groups of ten
Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed to give a twist in the fight against the coronavirus and
will ask the EU to close all European ski resorts
to avoid displacement and sources of contagion, such as the one that occurred in the first weeks of the pandemic in the Austrian Alps.
"The ski season is approaching and we have to anticipate. We cannot allow contacts and trips that are unnecessary when Germany and other Europeans are still fighting against the second wave of Covid-19," said the chancellor in a parliamentary appearance intended to explain the agreement reached yesterday with the 'Länder' to face the situation of each to the Christmas holidays.
Merkel announced that she will try to get the EU's unanimous vote on her proposal to close stations, although she admitted that
"it will be complicated" and presumes that Austria will oppose it.
It already has.
"We are opposed to this idea, but
if the EU wants to close the ski resorts it will have to pay for it,"
said Austrian Finance Minister
Gernot Blümen
. According to his calculations, the closure of the slopes in Austria would mean the loss of 2,000 millions of euros.
Merkel
has a priori the support of Italy and France
.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared yesterday that "preventing travel within the European Union is out of the question" but announced that
all travelers returning from vacation abroad must undergo a PCR test
and be quarantined. "
French President Emmanuel Macron has already announced that French stations will not open until next year, which has been widely criticized by the sector.
"The president has made a somewhat hasty decision and very damaging to the economy of the Alps," said
Jean-Luc Boch
, president of the national association of mountain resorts (ANMSM)
.
The prime minister,
Jean Castex
, has responded with irony that "everyone will be able to climb our beautiful mountains to breathe fresh air or buy souvenirs in the shops", although the dragging will not work, the slopes will be closed and there will be no place to drink a snack, because
bars and restaurants will be closed.
Merkel's proposal, although consistent if one of the priorities to contain the pandemic is to avoid displacement,
will be a severe economic blow to regions that live off tourism and winter sports
, as well as unpopular.
It was, however, a reality that the main sources of spread of the pandemic at the beginning of the year in northern Europe were the ski resorts and in the first place that of Ischgl, in Austria.
Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Germany traced
up to half a million infections linked to this town
, which later, like other areas of Tyrol, were isolated and its population confined.
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