Emmanuel Macron will he put France in a “lockdown” like Italy?

Widespread confinement? Cancellation of the second round of municipal elections? Closing borders? Coordination with the EU and the G7? Without dwelling on a shaken first round, Emmanuel Macron must make heavy decisions this week to fight the coronavirus epidemic.

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Apart from a round trip to Le Touquet to vote, the head of state spent his weekend preparing for war against the virus, in consultation with his ministers, scientists and foreign heads of state.

While the municipal authorities have become secondary in the midst of a rampant epidemic, which already affects at least 5,000 people, the head of state will have to decide at the beginning of the week whether or not to maintain the second round, after consulting the scientific committee.

On the other hand, he should not be attached to the result, which not only is unfavorable – as expected – to his young party but to which he never wanted to accord national significance. And that looks even more illegible due to abstention.

More than the result of the ballot boxes, it was his decision to maintain the first round, at the risk of canceling the second, which became this political and health issue this weekend.

After giving in on Thursday to pressure from tenors from the right, in particular, to maintain him, the head of state was sharply criticized over this weekend by political leaders and part of the public.

His decision indeed seemed contradictory to the increasingly drastic measures announced since Thursday, including the brutal closure of shops announced Saturday evening by his Prime Minister.

The strong abstention, over 50%, has fueled criticism from those who call for the abandonment of the vote.

Emmanuel Macron assumed his decision on Sunday by voting in Le Touquet, calling on the French to do the same and saying that “we can continue to go out, get some fresh air”, when in Italy no one has to go out.

The record abstention rate ultimately appears as a victory for the Prime Minister’s health recommendations on Saturday to move as little as possible, but a defeat for Emmanuel Macron who called to vote.

Several political leaders have also demanded Sunday evening the cancellation of the second round, like the leader of the Greens Yannick Jadot and Marine Le Pen, the leaders of the RN.

Containment and international

But Emmanuel Macron must decide on a much more serious decision, that of a possible compulsory confinement of the entire population for a long period, as already decided by Italy or Spain. This would obviously settle the question of the second round.

It also tries to bring about coordinated measures at the international level, when the countries are all going it alone.

The French president is therefore pushing the EU to set up an external border control on Monday.

But he failed to convince his European counterparts to give up closing their borders between them, a choice he has criticized for several days.

Even Germany has adopted this policy. Paris had to accept a partial reciprocal closure of the Franco-German border on Monday.

France and Germany have thus decided to close their common border on Monday morning except for cross-border workers and the transport of goods. Germany has also closed its border with Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Luxembourg.

However, he managed to convince G7 leaders to hold a videoconference on Monday on research and economic measures. In particular, it should focus mainly on drug testing and vaccine research.

This will be his third week almost exclusively devoted to the coronavirus, an epidemic for which he has called for “sacred union” and which pauses all his projects.

The balanced budget, the examination of the pension bill or the privatization of Aéroports de Paris, everything is postponed until after the epidemic.

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