Providing a horizon while strengthening restrictions: the strategy of the French government
The executive hopes "for a return to a more normal life (...) perhaps from mid-April".
AP - Michel Spingler
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
While planning new targeted measures to slow the progression of Covid-19 and its variants, the government is seeking to give French people a positive outlook.
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Promise a better future to better accept new restrictions.
This is the strategy the government seems to have adopted.
The executive hopes "
a return to a more normal life (...) perhaps from mid-April
", declared its spokesperson Gabriel Attal on Wednesday.
While warning: by then there will be "
weeks of heavy weather
".
This should go through new measures targeted in areas where the Covid-19 epidemic is spreading more quickly, such as containment on weekends or the closure of supermarkets.
It was discussed during the Sanitary Defense Council this morning.
Prime Minister Jean Castex will make announcements this Thursday while 20 departments are under surveillance, including Paris.
But while the lack of visibility weighs on the morale of the French after a year under Covid-19, Gabriel Attal is encouraging.
“
Let’s stand firm, let’s not give up after so much effort.
We will still face hardships.
But for the first time in months, the return to normal life is in sight,
”he promises.
And to assure those who doubt it: outings and sporting activities will once again be possible, bars, restaurants, museums and theaters will reopen.
New protocols under study
To loosen the grip, a meeting was held at the Élysée on Wednesday afternoon.
New protocols and the establishment of a “health pass” desired by the Head of State are in particular being studied.
Should you be vaccinated or have a recent negative test in your pocket?
These are the tracks on the table for a reopening planned for mid-April, so
"
Probably by this time, we can hope to have a notable impact of vaccination and therefore a decrease in the pressure on hospital services, a rise in collective immunity which can allow us to loosen the constraints which weigh for a long time
" , advance Gabriel Attal.
But faced with an unpredictable crisis, the executive takes the risk of disappointing, if the situation does not improve.
Lucid, Jean Castex recognized it Monday evening in front of the direction of The Republic in march: it is necessary to
remain humble and offensive vis-a-vis the variants.
The Prime Minister is "
neither worried, nor reassured
", sums up, fatalistic, an executive of LaREM.
We lose many years of youth.
We have to take advantage a little because soon, adulthood.
In Paris, young people facing restrictions
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