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Month: September 2020

Nice and Marseille hit with new restrictions

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/09/2020

French Health Minister Olivier Véran has announced plans to step up the fight against a second wave of Covid, placing new temporary restrictions on Nice, Marseille and several other French cities.

Neighbouring city Nice is preparing for a new round of restrictions starting Monday, as France’s Health Minister Olivier Véran raises the city’s alert level to “heightened” from “general”. The rest of the Alpes-Maritimes remains on general alert, though they will also be subject to new tighter restrictions.

As of Monday, bars in Nice will need to close by 10pm, while sports centres, gyms and multipurpose or party halls are unable to open to the public.

“These are confined spaces where wearing a mask is impossible or at least complex and which are, unfortunately, places of significant contamination,” said Olivier Véran.

These are in addition to restrictions already put in place by Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi last week – 12.30am closing time for restaurants, a ban on the sale of “take-away” alcohol and drinking in public from 8pm, and no amplified music outdoors.

Meanwhile, Marseille’s alert status has been elevated to the penultimate “maximum” as the city sees a run on hospitals with 30% of their resuscitation beds currently being filled by Covid patients. Bars and restaurants will have to shut completely from Saturday, Mr Véran said, adding that the measure would apply for a renewable period of two weeks.

For these two departments, the number of new cases diagnosed last week per 100,000 people is well above the acceptable threshold of 50, with 214 for Bouches-du-Rhône and 136 for the Alpes-Maritimes.

In France on 23rd September, 69 departments were classified as “active virus circulation zones” (ZCA) by the government. Among them are Monaco’s neighbours – Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône and the Var.

France reported a new record for daily coronavirus infections on Thursday, with 16,096 people testing positive for Covid-19 over the last 24 hours. It is classed as a record, even though experts advise that testing during the first coronavirus wave in March-April captured only a fraction of cases.

New report maps substance usage among Monaco’s teens

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/09/2020

Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use among high school students in Monaco continues its downward trend, according to the latest student survey by IMSEE. However, the use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed.
The Monegasque Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (IMSEE) revealed the results of its survey on Wednesday 23rd September during a conference at the Novotel Monte-Carlo. The survey was carried out by IMSEE in April 2019, during which all high school students in the Principality were asked primarily about their usage of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis, as well as the Internet, social networks and gambling.
The annual survey forms part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) program in which the Principality has participated since 2007.
The survey showed that, overall, the use alcohol, tobacco and cannabis fell between 2007 and 2019, particularly with regard to tobacco. This covered all types of tobacco consumption – experimentation, recent use and regular consumption.
It also found that 93% of high school students in 2019 had tried at least one substance among alcohol, tobacco and cannabis.
Alcohol
Alcohol was by far the most consumed substance, with nine out of 10 high school students having consumed it, a large majority within the year or month. Alcohol was considered to be the most accessible substance, and is often the first substance that is tried, sometimes from as early as primary school. Around 10% of high school students say they regularly consume alcohol – more than 10 times a month.
Significant occasional alcohol use (API), sometimes referred to as “binge drinking”, corresponds to having drunk at least five glasses of alcohol on one occasion during the month preceding the survey. Among high school students in Monaco, APIs fell by more than 10% between 2007 and 2019 (Figure 15). They still concern more than a third of the high school population in 2019 and are experiencing a jump between the second and first grades.
Significant occasional alcohol use (API) sometimes referred to as “binge drinking” corresponds to having drunk at least 5 glasses of alcohol on one occasion during the month preceding the survey. Among high school students in Monaco, APIs fell by more than 10 points between 2007 and 2019. However, it still occurred among more than a third of the high school population in 2019.
Tobacco and e-cigarettes
The use of tobacco has decreased, with 26% of students admitting to smoking daily in 2007, compared to 13% in 2019.
However, the use of electronic cigarettes has jumped significantly. The 2019 results show that 63% of high school students have tried e-cigarettes over the last 12 months, compared with 40% in 2015.
According to the survey, 40% of students have smoked e-cigarettes within the month, compared to just 11% four years earlier, and more than half of high school students who use electronic cigarettes have tried it without having smoked a cigarette before.
Cannabis and illicit drugs
More than a third of survey participants have experimented with cannabis, while 5% admit to regular use. Meanwhile, one in 10 students say they have used at least one illicit substance other than cannabis in their lifetime.
“The analysis of consumption behaviour of this product also shows that 19% of high school students who have consumed cannabis in the last 12 months could present a high risk of problematic use, or even dependence on this product,” according to the report. Males remain the predominant users of cannabis.
Digital use
The survey confirms that the internet and social networks are now an integral part of the daily life of high school students. Internet use increased more than any other activity over the period 2007-2019. Most high school students spend several hours each day on social media, and this hourly volume increases on weekends and holidays.
Gambling
Gambling has not experienced the same boom, however “betting for money is a practice that should to be monitored, in particular with regard to sports betting and which must now be the subject of careful monitoring given known risks of gambling,” recommends the statistics body.
Survey results, both short and long term, are used for public health management while giving health professionals, teachers and parents a clear and objective view of the situation in the Principality.
 
The full report by IMSEE can be found here: https://www.imsee.mc/Actualites/Rapport-de-resultats-ESPAD-Monaco
 
 
 

Emergency response exercise

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/09/2020

The emergency response capabilities of Monaco, Italy and France have been put to the test during a mock oil spill off the coast of San Remo.

The three countries bound by the RAMOGE Agreement – Monaco, Italy and France, held an anti-pollution exercise off the coast of Sam Remo on Thursday to gauge the responsiveness of participants in the event of an actual major pollution incident.

The Italian Ministry of the Environment and the Italian Coast Guard organised the simulation exercise as part of the RAMOGEPOL response plan. The ongoing health situation prohibited a normal drill to be carried out, and therefore did not include naval and air responses. Nonetheless, the goal was to test coordination efforts and reactions of the Monegasque, French and Italian authorities as realistically as possible in the event of a major environmental emergency.

The created scenario, which was dubbed SANREMO 2020, was a mock-up of an accident between an oil tanker and a yacht off the coast of the Italian town of San Remo. In the simulation, the tanker spilled a large amount of oil, threatening the Ligurian, French and Monaco coastlines. The reaction to this danger led to the activation of crisis centres in each country and a video conference with the relevant authorities.

The exercise allowed the players to ensure several stopgaps were in place, such as good communication between the RAMOGE state authorities, the competence of the oil spill drift forecasting model, and the timely mobilisation of the Mediterranean Assistance Unit, REMPEC.

These exercises take place every year in a different location and are designed to optimise the effectiveness of the emergency resources at each country’s disposal in the fight against marine pollution.

In practice, the organisation was put to the test in October 2018, when a ro-ro vessel, the Ulysse and the container ship, Virginia, collided off the coast of Corsica.

RAMOGE, an acronym coming from the original geographic area the agreement covered, Saint RAaphael in the west and MOnaco and GEnoa in the east, and was formally organised in 1976 as an agreement between the three nations to come to the aide of the other in the event of any coastal environmental disaster within the regions. In addition to being first responders, the agreement also acts as an instrument for scientific, technical, legal and administrative cooperation efforts that implement actions and proposals that assist in integrating coastal management plans.

Next year, the RAMOGEPOL exercises will be organised by the Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture.

 

PHOTO: © DR

 
 

Miró exhibition at NMNM

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/09/2020

An exhibit of 65 works by the legendary Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist Joan Miró is on display at the New National Museum of Monaco, Villa Paloma, now through to the end of October.

In a posthumous return to Monaco, an exhibit by Joan Miró entitled La Peinture au Défi has come to the Principality featuring a large selection of works from the Spanish surrealist.

Hosted by the New National Museum of Monaco (NMNM), Villa Paloma, and curated by the Galerie Gmurzynska, the collection includes many interesting works including an original painting completed when Miró worked in Monaco with Diaghilev’s 1932 Ballets Rusees on Jeux d’Enfants,

“One of the merits of this exhibition is to remind us that the painter created the stage curtain, sets, costumes and props for the ballet Jeux d’enfants,” said Prince Albert II, whose foundation is a partner in the event “Knowing this enables us to fully appreciate the good fortune of the Monegasque public when the music of George Bizet, a libretto by Boris Kochno, choreography by Léonide Massine, the unparalleled talent of the Ballets Russes and the inimitable visual language of Joan Miró were brought together in the Principality in 1932. The stage photographs and correspondence between Kochno and the painter from the collection of the NMNM give evidence of this tremendous encounter.”
“This exhibition was born out of the time of Covid-19 in order to create some happiness in unruly times” curator Isabelle Bscher, co-owner of Galerie Gmurzynska, added “In his paintings, he offered escape from the horrors of the First World War, the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War. This exhibition spans from great dreamscapes of the 1920s to the work of the 1970s, which sometimes veer towards the destruction of painting. All through his life, Miró was a great revolutionary, all the while being a humanitarian opposing extremism and the repression of ideas.”
The show will run from now to 25th October and visitors can receive a fully illustrated catalogue with commentary and essays by the artist’s grandson, Joan Punyet Miró as well as Joachim Pissarro, Robert Lubar Messeri Jérôme Neutres, Clara Montero, Bernardo Laniado-Romero.
 
Photo: Joan Punyet Mirό © Direction de la Communication / Manuel Vitali
 
 

New Ambassadors welcomed

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/09/2020

It’s been a month of diplomatic accreditations, with several ambassadors officially presenting their credentials in Monaco and internationally.
On Tuesday 22nd September, Minister of External Relations and Cooperation Laurent Anselmi received at the Hermitage Hotel Ambassador of the Republic of Georgia Tea Katukia, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa Tebogo Seokolo, and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand Sarun Charoensuwan.
The diplomats had presented their Letters of Credence to HSH Prince Albert earlier in the morning.
Tea Katukia has worked for almost 20 years in France and Italy on European and international issues in the fields of institutional communication, research and scientific journalism. In addition to her university studies, Ms Katukia has undertaken a professional career within the main French think tanks specialising in European issues. She was notably Secretary General at the Centre for Analysis and Forecasting of International Risks and Editor-in-Chief of Diplomatie magazine.
Tebogo Seokolo joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1995 as Deputy Director, following the advent of democracy in South Africa. During his career he has held the positions of Director, Head of Western Europe at the MFA and Deputy Chief of State Protocol, among others. Promoted Ambassador, he served in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, and at the United Nations.
Sarun Charoensuwan worked in various Departments before being appointed Director of the Division for Peace, Security and Disarmament in the Department of International Organisations. He continued his studies at the MFA until he served as Director-General of the Department of European Affairs, of the Department of East Asian Affairs and then of the Department of American and South Pacific Affairs. Appointed Ambassador in 2015, he was accredited to the Republic of Korea.

His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Willem Alexander and Isabelle Berro-Amadeï © Jeroen van der Meyde

Meanwhile, on 16th September, Isabelle Berro-Amadeï presented His Majesty the King of the Netherlands Willem Alexander with her Letters of Credence accrediting her as Ambassador of Monaco.
The official ceremony took place at the Palais Nordeinde in The Hague and was followed by a private meeting, during which various subjects were discussed, in particular the consequences of the health crisis for the two countries, the common challenges imposed by the environmental issues as well as the measures implemented to ensure the digital transition of the Principality. The commitment of H.S.H Prince Albert II to protecting the oceans was underlined, an area also dear to His Majesty the King.
The Ambassador assured His Majesty of her commitment to continue and deepen the ties that have united the two countries for many years.
 
Top photo from left to right: Tebogo Seokolo, Laurent Anselmi, Tea Katukia, and Sarun Charoensuwan © Communication Department / Stéphane Danna
 

Events cancelled, free masks, alcohol restrictions

by: Stephanie Horsman
23/09/2020

The government has announced the cancellation of the Heritage Day celebrations and the Monaco Fun Fair due to concerns connected to the coronavirus situation. Meanwhile, fabric masks will once again be distributed to residents and restrictions on the sale of alcohol will come into force.

Despite the low number of cases in the Principality, the government has decided to err on the side of caution and cancel the 25th annual Heritage Day event that had been planned for Sunday 27th September, as well as the yearly Monaco Fun Fair that was to be held from 16th October to 19th November.

The government says in a statement that this is not a knee-jerk reaction, but a considered plan, adding, “These measures are intended to be pragmatic and are concerned with ensuring a balance between the imperative of health security and the essential need to live as normally as possible.”

The decision to cancel the Heritage Day event was also due to the fact that some vendors and participants were not able to guarantee they could comply with the required sanitary measures.

“Many participants in this edition, not being able to ensure satisfactory health security, had chosen not to take part in this year’s edition. In addition, the free admission attached to this event for museums presents the risk of too many crowds when physical distancing measures are required,” said the government.

In the same statement, the Prince’s government also decreed that the maximum number of people allowed at large gatherings be lowered to 1,000, except for exceptional cases, starting Friday 25th September. On the same day, the sale of “take-away” alcohol will be prohibited from 8pm to 6am. School trips outside of Monaco are being temporarily suspended as well, to lower unnecessary contact.

In the fight against the virus, the government has announced it will help residents to comply with the rules and stay safe. “The evolution of the pandemic in Europe requires us to remain vigilant. It is for this reason that the Princely Government is relaunching a free and general distribution of fabric masks for all Monegasques and residents. These masks will arrive in mailboxes in the next few days.”