As France continues to relax pandemic restrictions, members of the French parliament point to an alleged flaw in the government's strategy: the decision to keep nightclubs closed while swingers' clubs reopen.
May 19 marks the next milestone on France's journey to normalcy, as cinemas, retail stores and museums have been given the green light to reopen and nightclubs are among the last types of establishments to remain closed.
France's nightlife sector stalled over 14 months ago and the closings have resulted in 45,000 job losses, according to an MP.
Blue night
However, with the right context, things get even more chaotic as many swingers clubs can also reopen on May 19th. This is due to the fact that some of the clubs are actually classified as restaurants. Euronews reports French MPs have drawn attention to the absurdity that despite the lack of social distancing, swingers clubs are allowed to open for obvious reasons before people can dance in a club.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to reopen nightlife until July. Currently, President Emmanuel Macron's schedule is for the curfew to be reset to 11:00 p.m. by June 9 and fully lifted by July 30. At this point, there is hope that nightlife establishments will be given some direction on how to proceed, but the business owners remain in the dark for the time being.
