During his exchange with mayors – among them Christian Estrosi and David Lisnard – and associations of elected officials, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, indicated that the phase of easing lockdown measures will have “a national framework to then be adapted and localized,” as stated by the Élysée.
The complex issue of reopening schools was notably addressed. It will be on a voluntary basis and depend on the capacity to ensure sanitary safety.
The planned easing of the lockdown starting May 11, made possible by the decline in the coronavirus epidemic, will entail a major operation, in which the 36,000 mayors of France will be pivotal.
Prefect Jean Castex, tasked with this easing of lockdown measures, will present the plan to local elected officials early next week, likely on Tuesday. A consultation period will follow before the plan’s finalization and its presentation the following week, at the beginning of May. In the same week, a debate followed by a vote will be organized at the National Assembly and the Senate.
It will be the mayors and Prefects who will apply the general provisions of the Government, along with the necessary adjustments, which will be issued in the coming days.
This option chosen by Emmanuel Macron aligns with the direction proposed by Christian Estrosi: “In a video conference with the President of the Republic and mayors of France, I wanted to emphasize the need to rely on the territories and trust local elected officials to closely adapt the easing of the lockdown to the concerns of our inhabitants. It is essential to give the Prefect and Mayor responsibility for managing the reopening of businesses and companies, activity by activity during the #deconfinement under the supervision of the Regional Health Agency. Differentiation is especially crucial in our tourist territory.”
Regarding other points, there should be mandatory mask-wearing for traveling on public transport.
From a conceptual perspective, after the unnecessary and misleading opposition between globalism and localism, it has finally been understood that the two must intertwine to create a unique entity: the glocal!
The epidemic will have at least had the merit of breaking the ice between these two realities of our life as both local and global inhabitants.
