But it can only make sense… if the leeway it offers is used to deliver a crash programme creating the means to defeat the virus. The answers are all out there, lying in wait for a government prepared to give humanity a chance to take control of its future: closed borders for a period; radically reduced movement and personal contact for perhaps longer; free protection for every individual whether it is masks, gels, clean air or decontamination of spaces and facilities; a crash programme to restore the hospital services and develop better treatments; a proper test, trace and isolate system that can quickly cope with millions, not thousands of individuals; and above all the mobilisation of social solidarity to help people feel cared for, feel part of a joint enterprise, feel that they understand what is being done and why. Thirty-five deaths in total in a poor country of 95 million as against 67,000 in France, a rich country of 65 million, takes some explaining. When going in the other direction, from Britain into France, the equivalent list of exempted countries does not include Vietnam, the former colony whose people booted out their French would-be rulers in 1954 after a bloody attempt by successive governments in Paris to overturn the Vietnamese declaration of independence in 1945. Unlike Hollande, elected on the back of rhetorical flourishes against high finance, or François Mitterrand, elected in 1981 with a programme of nationalisations and major social reforms, Macron has not needed a U-turn moment. Mr Macron held a Covid-19 defence council meeting yesterday to discuss further restrictions, which are due to be made public by Jean Castex, the prime minister, today. Arnaud Fontanet, a member of President Macron’s special Covid era Scientific Council, warned that the new “British” variant was “almost a new epidemic in the epidemic” against which vaccinating even just the most vulnerable would be “a race against the clock”. There will be vaccines produced in France later this year. Once action was forced on the government, the means chosen were private sector organisations not public sector ones. Macron tested positive for Covid-19 on last week, showing symptoms of fatigue, headache, dry cough and muscle aches. Why has Macron rejected the joint enterprise that defeats COVID-19? French vaccination campaign a 'state scandal' as just 500 receive jabs Public asks why only 516 people have been vaccinated - compared to a million-odd in the UK and 240,000 in Germany Inaction then, and failure to respond properly since, means that the virus continues to spread amid chaotic and half-hearted attempts to control it, alongside accumulating economic difficulties and growing poverty. Unlike them, he has not had to abandon a left programme in favour of one of austerity in public spending and tax cuts for firms and the rich. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is self-isolating after meeting Mr Macron (Michel Euler/AP) EU leaders met in person in Brussels on December 10-11, for the first time since October. Macron is the third leader of a Group of Seven nation to contract the virus, after U.S. President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson -- who wished the French leader a “speedy recovery” in a Tweet. When I stood at the edge of a ditch in My Lai in May that year, the ditch where reputedly many of the corpses of the victims of Lt. Calley’s platoon had been photographed in 1968 – a cartridge casing from an M16 rifle that my sandal scuffed up from the dusty ground is still on a shelf beside my desk as I write – or when I wandered with late night crowds of women in Danang out and about for the first time in their lives, they told me, free from the fear of rape, the last thing I imagined was a government that would, 45 years later, be jailing some of its milder critics. Emmanuel Macron has said France will remain an ally of the UK despite a Brexit decision that he says was built from "many lies and false promises". Sánchez has had many coronavirus tests during the course of the pandemic and they have all come back negative, even though many of his close contacts, including his wife, have tested positive for the virus. There is little point in exploring for deeper explanations if we do not start from the assertion that it would have been possible to cut the epidemic off at the beginning. We are all … France can still not deliver on that simple call from the WHO a year ago. Michèle Rubirola, the councillor responsible for health in Marseille where the new variant has now surfaced, asked: “Why not a new lockdown?” As she spoke, test evidence revealed that the variant was being found elsewhere across the country. Or has past exposure to other coronavirus infections developed some degree of immunity? Certainly, one of the great disappointments of the 20th century has been what followed in Vietnam after the defeat of the US in 1975. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron speak during a bilateral meeting in Biarritz, France, Aug. 26, 2019, on the third day of the annual G7 Summit. One could stop there and just blame all of this on Macron’s personality and the way that personality has played with the highly centralised and hierarchical system of France’s presidential system. Aides have said Mr Macron is not seriously ill, reports say, but Prime Minister Jean Castex is self-isolating … Mr Macron had lunch with European Council President Charles Michel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Organisation for Economic Co … January 12, 2021. French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19 and will self-isolate for the next week, as virus cases surge in Europe. The upsurge of popular concern, solidarity and activity during the first lockdown in March and April – not just the balcony applause for health workers, but the volunteers turning out masks in their living rooms, arranging food supplies for those in need, looking after elderly, isolated neighbours – that was left to fade away. He will self-isolate for seven days but 'will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely', the brief statement added. They will only secure public support when they are clearly used as a key step on the way to bringing the epidemic to an end. When a killer virus is on the loose, lockdown is the first step, not the last, a government should take. New Zealand has only some 5 million inhabitants and cannot compare on size, but it has fewer deaths, though somewhat more recorded cases, than Vietnam. It said the president took a test “as soon as the first symptoms appeared”. As one recent French academic author puts it in the title of his book, this is a “fake state”, one that organises its own powerlessness in response to public needs, compensating for that by its organised powerfulness when it comes to public order.[i]. All that, just to endure this? What stands out is the refusal to engage in a simple process of foresight linked to an aversion to taking decisive, over-arching action. Astonishingly, the French health service is still proceeding with plans to reduce its number of beds. 894646. French President Emmanuel Macron is the latest world leader to test positive for Covid-19. Macron Plows Ahead in Fight Against Extremism With Key Law His response, which included empowering the police and closing mosques suspected of receiving illicit money, opened him up to criticism from countries such as Turkey that France was now targeting Muslims and stirred a debate on tolerance, rule of law and methods to combat extremism. [1] Corinne Lhaïk, President cambrioleur, Fayard, 2020. [i] The author writes of his “taste for domination” and of how he “wants to work on issues himself”. France has recorded over … Europe must recognise the vital contributions of vulnerable migrants, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Is the poverty and youthfulness of Vietnam an “advantage” that explains these different totals? This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. EMMANUEL MACRON admitted 'the EU was embroiled in civil war' as anti-bloc sentiments took a grip of the European Parliament, unearthed accounts reveal. Experience shows this is not at all what Macron and his ministers have in mind. By Bill McLoughlin PUBLISHED: 10:55, Sat, Jan 9, 2021 Astonishingly, the French health service is still proceeding with plans to reduce its number of beds. How can one not ask such a question as the toll of Covid-19 deaths continues and lockdowns tighten across Europe a year after governments let the virus in through the continent’s front door and while a punch-drunk public begins to realise that the current vaccination programme is far from meaning an early end to our pain? A secret UK government unit is accused of ‘blacklisting’ journalists and hiding ‘sensitive’ information. Macron posted a self-shot video on Friday in … Even on the prime policy option of vaccination, he did not pick up the option of establishing a publicly-supported, not-for-profit production line in France –indeed it may never even have occurred to him to think that way – so the country is currently reliant on Pfizer’s Belgian facility. We have noticed that there is an issue with your subscription billing details. To understand what is possible is a necessary condition for having the capacity to act and to see why such a capacity was put on one side. They have tested, traced and isolated with determination and so kept that work manageable. French Prime Minister Jean Castex would also go into quarantine as he had been in contact with Macron, French media reported. In a video on Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "When, in one of the world's oldest democracies, supporters of an outgoing president take up arms to … Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. They have shown that it is possible to stop the virus rather than just run after it. When travelling now from France to Britain, the relevant pages of the British government website giving you the rules to follow include an alphabetical list of those places from which you can arrive without immediately going into quarantine. We can just look at the limited numbers French ministers claim will be vaccinated. ... 16 January 2021. It has not come back and Macron does not want it to. "Sorry to hear my friend @EmmanuelMacron has tested positive for coronavirus. Coronavirus Pandemic. Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who had lunch with Mr Macron on Wednesday, has taken a Covid-19 test, has shown no symptoms and is in self-isolation awaiting the result, his office said. Thursday January 14 2021, 12.01am, The Times President Macron’s government is expected to impose tighter restrictions today after being warned that a … Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said he will self-isolate until December 24. Jean-François Delfraissy, the chairman of the scientific committee, the French equivalent of Britain’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said that action was needed to stop the mutant coronavirus strain first identified in Britain swamping the country and leaving French hospitals in crisis. For both countries, the WHO tabulation speaks of “clusters of cases” rather than the “community transmission” it records for France or Britain. French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19, the presidential Elysee Palace announced. Mr Macron and Prime Minister Jean Castex have come under criticism for the slow start to vaccinations since they began on Dec 27. It said in a brief statement that the president had a test 'as soon as the first symptoms appeared'. President Macron will meet with Prime Minister Jean Castex and Health Minister Olivier Véran and other relevant ministers at … From keystroke to brushstroke: where’s the art in modern work? French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his New Year wishes to the military forces at Prefecture Maritime de l'Atlantique in Brest, France, January 19, 2021. It seeks to administer people in the interest of things and not the reverse. Government officials vowed to … Macron bolsters Johnson’s Covid credibility Despite bitter divisions over a Brexit deal, the two leaders have a warm relationship and a shared approach to the virus James Forsyth In the France of today, it would mean democratising the response to the virus, not imprisoning it in the closed corridors of power. The French president marked the historic timing of his annual New Years Address, as the transition period finally came to a … Macron is trying to re-engineer France more fully in line with the needs of private finance and large-scale enterprise. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us. The argument is that you are so unlikely to pick up the virus there that there is no need for you to go into isolation for the time that any infection by SARS-Cov-2 might take to reveal itself. Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa, 59, cancelled official trips and is isolating after meeting Mr Macron for a working lunch at the palace on Wednesday. The tracing system has also never got off the ground. Will you add your name? British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent Macron his best wishes. Mr Macron’s wife Brigitte, who is 67, is also self-isolating, but has no symptoms.