France’s Nightlife Sector Remains Shuttered While Strip Clubs Reopen
As France continues to ease pandemic restrictions Members of French Parliament are pointing out a perceived flaw in the government’s strategy: the decision to keep nightclubs closed while reopening swinger’s clubs.
May 19th marks the next milestone on France’s path to normalcy as movie theaters, retail locations, and museums have been given the green light to reopen, leaving nightclubs among the last types of establishments to still remain shut.
France’s nightlife sector came to a screeching halt over 14 months ago and according to one MP, the closures have resulted in a loss of 45,000 jobs and counting.
Things get even messier with proper context, however, as May 19th will also allow many swinger’s clubs to reopen. This is due to the fact that some of the clubs are actually categorized as restaurants. Euronews reports French Members of Parliament have pointed out the absurdity that despite a lack of social distancing—for obvious reasons—swinger’s clubs will be allowed to open before people can dance in a club.
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem there will be a pathway for nightlife to reopen before July. Currently President Emmanuel Macron’s timeline allows for the imposed curfew to be rolled back to 23:00 by June 9th, and then lifted entirely by July 30th. At that point it is the hope that nightlife establishments will be given some direction as to how they can proceed, but for now business owners remain in the dark.