French fury at deluded ‘Macron the monarch’
President accused of foisting new lockdown on MPs after weeks of ignoring advice
EMMANUEL Macron was accused of acting like an arrogant king yesterday as he came under fire over France’s new national lockdown.
Dozens of MPs walked out of the National Assembly, the country’s lower house, rather than vote to rubberstamp rules they say were foisted upon them.
They boycotted a ballot on the measures which will see schools shut for three weeks alongside a month-long closing of shops, a travel ban and a curfew.
The French president announced the tough restrictions on Wednesday night after he had ignored his own scientific advisors’ warnings for weeks that the country’s health system would be overwhelmed.
‘It really is April Fools’ today,’ said Jean-Luc Melenchon, the would-be far-Left candidate for next year’s presidential election.
‘Everything has been decided and we are invited to come and applaud... the presidential monarch, the best virologist in France apparently, and modesty’s best friend,’ the leader of France Unbowed party added.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, expected to
‘Price of inconsistent decision-making’
be Mr Macron’s main challenger in 2022, said shutting down the country after a spike in cases was the president’s ‘Waterloo’. She added: ‘Unfortunately it is the French people who suffer the consequences of these delays, of his pride, and of his inconsistent decision-making, with a heavy price on their daily lives.’
Mr Macron blamed rocketing cases on ‘the British variant’, first discovered in Kent, which is more transmissible than previous strains.
Communist Party politician Andre Chassaigne likened his style of rule to that of Louis XIV, France’s 17th-century monarch known as the Sun King and who proclaimed absolute power. ‘The worsening of the health crisis was predictable,’ Mr Chassaigne said. ‘ The Sun King’s leap of faith was not enough to break the infection curve.’
Boris Johnson put the UK on alert for a possible wave from across the Channel. He said: ‘I’m afraid you can see what’s happening in France... it’s very, very sad. When they get it in France and they get it bad, two or three weeks later it comes to us.’
But a government source said there were no immediate plans to place France on the travel ‘red list’ in order to keep trade moving.
France has registered nearly 96,000 deaths and 4.6million infections during the pandemic. On Wednesday it reported 53,000 new cases had been registered over the past two days.
Health minister Olivier Veran said the measures would see new infections peak in seven to ten days. ‘The goal is to suppress this wave... so that it’s as small as
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possible,’ he told France Inter radio. Angela Merkel was under pressure last night to follow Mr Macron’s lead and introduce a lockdown in Germany. Medics warned her the country’s healthcare system is close to being saturated.
Germany this week banned the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for under-60s over fears of blood clots, the third different decision in a fortnight. Mixed messaging has seen splits emerge in Germany’s government, it emerged yesterday.
Health minister Jens Spahn asked older members of the Cabinet to build confidence in the jab by having it themselves. But interior minister Horst Seehofer thundered: ‘The answer is “No!” I will not be patronised.’