The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, announced on Tuesday that "restrictive and dissuasive measures" would be taken to prevent the French from skiing abroad at Christmas.
He also called for real coordination on a European scale while he was in the company of the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo.
Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that the government was planning to take "restrictive and dissuasive measures" to prevent the French from going skiing abroad, especially in Switzerland, at Christmas when ski lifts will be closed in France because of the coronavirus epidemic.
"If there are countries which keep stations open, there will be controls to dissuade the French" and "not to create a situation of imbalance with stations in France", explained the head of state before the press after receiving Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo.
"We will have restrictive and dissuasive measures" which "will be refined in the coming days with the government and depending on the review clause that was planned around December 11," he said.
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The stations are "places of brewing" for Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron said he understood "the anguish (...) of elected mountain officials and professionals" and assured that everything was done to "be able to start again as soon as possible in January" mountain activities "when we have visibility" on the Covid-19 epidemic.
But, he underlined, the stations are "places of brewing" where "it is dark from 5 pm" and where "one finds oneself in places which one has rented to several. We know that c This is how we get infected and therefore we try to avoid it "so as" not to sacrifice all the efforts that we make ".
"We need European coordination"
On the opening of the resorts during the holidays, "we need European coordination" according to him, because for the moment, all the countries are not "exactly aligned".
With Germany, and probably Italy, "we want to convince our partners", such as Switzerland or Spain, not to do so.
Alexander de Croo also deemed necessary "solidarity between European countries" on this issue and warned that checks would be made at the borders of Belgium for Belgians who would go on vacation abroad.
Faced with the discontent of mountain professionals, the government of Jean Castex announced a series of aid measures, in particular compensation for ski lifts closed in December, and a partial unemployment scheme with "a remainder at zero charge" for seasonal workers.
The decision to close the stations caused anger and concern in the sector, relayed by many local elected officials.