France wants restaurants defying Coronavirus restrictions to be suspended from state aid

According to media reports, some French restaurant owners decided to reopen on Monday, despite the prolonged ban on reopening, to manifest protests against such a measure, following an example of a restaurateur in Nice who was placed in police custody last week after he opened his establishment in a bid to show dismay over the closures of public facilities, with all the clients and staff fined.

"All who will remain open, will be suspended from the access to the solidarity fund for a month. In the event of a repeat offense, they will no longer have any access to the fund," Le Maire said.

Notably, media reported that restaurant owners would also be subjected to a 135-euro ($163) fine.

The government has set up several forms of state aid for businesses amid the epidemic, including a solidarity fund, which offers repatriations for particularly affected companies, and a partial unemployment scheme, under which employers receive payments from the government to partially cover the wages of their staff.

Business owners in France, including restaurateurs, were pending to reopen on January 20.

However, earlier last month the government extended restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic amid its active circulation in the country, a decision prompting dismay among employers, whose companies were ordered to remain closed indefinitely.