French hotel and restaurant owners are lobbying the government to regularise more illegal migrants in order to fill 100,000 jobs for which they have found no French takers.
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PARIS (Reuters) - French ministers told hospitality industry representatives at a meeting on Tuesday that restaurants and cafes will not re-open on the anticipated Jan. 20 date because COVID-19 case numbers are too high, two restaurant lobby groups said.
The French hospitality sector had to close down its establishments on Oct. 30 because of a surge in infections. At the time, the government said they could re-open on Jan. 20 if COVID-19 rates declined enough.
But France is currently reporting an average of over 10,000 new cases a day, double the rate of 5,000 that the government set as the threshold for further easing restrictions. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)