The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, received the representatives of the profession on Tuesday January 5 in Bercy. At the end of the meeting, they say they are “very worried”.
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The owners of bars and restaurants remain in the fog. The only certainty: they will not welcome customers to their establishments on January 20, as they could have hoped for a while. Even if, officially, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, has not commented on this date, he was very clear during a meeting organized on Tuesday January 5 in Bercy with representatives of the profession. /
“We will not reopen on January 20, it is an open secret. M. Le Maire said he was very concerned about the health situation and explained to us that he could not give us any perspectives, “said Didier Chenet, of the GNI union (National Group of Independents). “The government wants at all costs to avoid a third confinement. The tension would come from a South African strain of the virus which would have arrived in France”, adds Hubert Jan, from the UMIH union (Union des métiers et des industries de l’hôtellerie) .
Banks are tightening the screw
During his televised address on November 24, 2020, Emmanuel Macron had set an appointment with restaurateurs on January 20, 2021 to assess the health situation related to the Covid-19 pandemic and give them a possible green light to reopen. We will therefore have to wait a little longer, while the administrative closure of bars and restaurants has been effective since October 29.
“The Minister reaffirmed very strongly his support for our sector of activity. The aid measures taken in December should be renewed “, underlines Mr. Chenet. Partial unemployment, cancellation of social charges, support funds: the range of measures had been strengthened in December 2020. They should still evolve soon to now take into account the difficulties of large groups, and no longer only small establishments. “The EMPs [government guaranteed loans] will be extended with a two-year grace period,” says Jan.