French and Riviera News Friday 19th November 2021

News

French President says that a lockdown for the unvaccinated will not be necessary in France - French President Emmanuel Macron has assured that " a lockdown of theunvaccinated in France is not necessary". In an interview with "La Voix du Nord" on Thursday November 18th Macron explains that the "countries which confine the unvaccinated are those that have not implemented the health pass and that this measure is therefore not necessary in France."

Austria on Monday became the first EU country to confine people who have not been vaccinated or have not recently contracted covid, to stem the record number of new cases. Without going that far, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced severe restrictions on the unvaccinated in Germany where the number of new infections jumped by 65,371 in 24 hours, the most since the beginning of the pandemic.

Asked about a possible generalization of the booster dose, Emmanuel Macron told La Voix du Nord to wait for "the opinion of the health authorities" adding that "for those at risk and the elderly, we know that the benefit-risk is positive. If it turns out that a third dose is effective and necessary for other age groups, obviously, we will integrate it into the logic of the health pass."

The Head of State had announced on 9th November that the maintenance of the health pass for anyone over 65 would be conditioned, from 15th December, by the injection of a booster dose, which will benefit anyone over 50 from the beginning of December. This speech gave a new boost to the vaccination campaign and France has just surpassed the five million booster doses injected mark.

French professor claims "it's suicidal not to get vaccinated" - Meanwhile speaking to French media on Thursday evening the head of the resuscitation and infectious diseases department at the Bichat Hospital Jean-Francois Timsit , has said that "it's suicidal not to get vaccinated". Timsit went on to explain that he clearly sees the effects of vaccination within his department. Of the seven patients who were admitted to his ward on Thursday, five patients were unvaccinated, one patient had received only one dose, and the last patient was of high risk. Asked why his patients did not receive the injection, Jean-François Timsit believes that the vast majority of the people he sees in the hospital who are still unvaccinated would comply with a total vaccination obligation. A decision that would nevertheless push "people into the street" and which is "political" according to him. But which would be according to the professor, "be the most logical speaking from a health point of view ".

Republican MP presents his programme for the presidential elections - Republican MP for the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti has presented his programme. A few weeks ahead of the Republican party choosing their candidate for the presidential election Ciotti, who is candidate, presented his programme on Wednesday November 17th, focusing on preserving what he considers to be the values of France.

In his programme he presents himself as fundamentally against immigration and for strengthening the authority of the State.The candidate is also positioning himself against the current government and assures that he will not make "any alliance with Macronism". Ciotti would also like to eliminate 250,000 civil service positions, while specifying that the hospital and sovereign civil service would be spared by this measure. On the other hand, he would like to abolish the 35-hour week. The candidate also plans to increase the legal retirement age to 65. However, he assures that no pension will be "below the SMIC". From 1st to 4th December, the right-wing party Les Républicains (LR) are organising a congress to designate the party candidate who will represent them in the 2022 presidential election.

Traffic wardens continue strike action in Nice - Employees of Moovia the company which manages the parking metres in Nice have demonstrated in front of its agency to denounce the lack of action from management and the city hall. Private agents in charge of controlling the payment of parking metres in Nice are on their fifteenth day of strike action demanding better wages and working conditions.

Pub in Old town of Nice, acts after being mentioned on "Balance ton bar Nice" - A bar in old Nice has announced new measures after being mentioned on the "balance ton bar" Instagram account. On Wednesday November 17th, it was reported that the international movement, set up to denounce bars where alleged assaults had been carried out on women, had launched an account for both Nice and Cannes. Since, the bar Bulldog Pub Pompeï, in Old Nice, has announced to take immediate measures in its establishment, after being implicated in several testimonials on the Instagram profile "Balance ton bar Nice".

Monaco National Day - As part of the National Day festivities in Monaco, 196 drones have flown over Port Hercule and the Rock of the Principality on Thursday evening. Flying above the Princely Palace lit in red and white: the planet Earth, a sea turtle, a tree, the Prince's Palace, the Monegasque flag, a ten to evoke the tenth wedding anniversary of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene along with the monogram of Albert of Monaco turning into "A" and "C" for Albert and Charlene. To close the drone show, a "Viva Munegu" appeared above the Princely Palace of Monaco. 

New law ends practice of wild animals being used in live circus shows - French actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot welcomed a vote by lawmakers on Thursday to end the practice of w