French to retaliate against ‘political’ British crackdown

THE French government will retaliate against Britain’s quarantine on arrivals from France because it considers it to be a “political” decision without justification on health grounds, Clément Beaune, the European affairs minister, said yesterday.

France will refrain from imposing reciprocal measures on Germany over its restrictions on travellers from Paris and the Riviera, because it accepts that Covid-19 infections are spreading more rapidly in the two areas, he said. Britain, on the other hand, has introduced a blanket requirement for the whole of France, he added.

“The UK is in a different situation,” Mr Beaune told Europe 1 radio. “Firstly, the UK is leaving the EU, that’s part of the context, then the UK has an approach that’s frankly much more political in its approach to managing the crisis, less based on health or science.”

Asked if the British quarantine was “a political decision against France”, he replied: “Frankly, I think so, in part. Of course there are health criteria and I don’t deny that the epidemic is increasing in France.” But he said the UK had put France on its quarantine list “with only a few hours notice and this applied to the whole of the country. The Germans applied it to Paris and the Bouches-du-rhône region, where we ourselves say the risk is higher… We have had this discussion with the British. We aren’t in a school playground.”

However, France has yet to impose quarantine on Britons arriving in the country since Britain reintroduced quarantine on travellers from France on Aug 15.