Lunchtime News Tuesday 2nd June 2020

11% recession in 2020 - The French government has anticipated an 11% recession in 2020. Speaking to French media this morning the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, assured that "the hardest is still to comes", after the coronavirus health crisis, and a largely weakened economy in recent weeks.

The economic shock is extremely brutal", he stressed, believing that the recession should reach 11% this year. However, the Minister is convinced, "France will rebound in 2021".

Borders - Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, France’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in charge of tourism has announced this morning that "Intra-European borders will reopen around June 15th”. He added however that the “borders between the EU and the rest of the world are likely to remain closed for several more weeks".

The number of road deaths in France drops slightly - The number of road deaths in mainland France has dropped slightly in 2019 compared to 2018, according to figures published today.

In 2019, 3,244 people lost their lives on the roads of mainland France, the lowest number of deaths in the history of road safety statistics.

Speed remains the number one cause of fatal accidents. Other statistics on the rise: that of "cyclist mortality", with 12 additional fatalities in 2019, and that of "pedestrian mortality" which also shows an increase of 12 deaths compared to 2018.

Formula One - An F1 statement released this morning has confirmed that the 2020 Formula 1 season will start in Austria on 5th July, the first of a run of eight races in Europe.

The championship will begin across three consecutive weekends - two in Austria on 5 and 12 July and a third in Hungary.

There will then be a two-week break before two consecutive races in Britain and events in Spain, Belgium and Italy.

All will be run behind closed doors with participants following guidelines to minimise the spread of Covid-19.