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What changes in France in June 2021?

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
What changes in France in June 2021?
Music festivals, cafés and the health passport - here's what is changing in France. All photos: AFP

As well as the next step of the reopening after lockdown, June also brings tax deadlines and a crucial cutoff date for Brits living in France.

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New stages of the easing of Covid-19 lockdown

In May, French President Emmanuel Macron laid out a four-step plan to reopen the country after weeks of nationwide restrictions to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

June sees steps 3 and 4 of this plan, although both are dependant on the health situation remaining under control.

Step 3: from June 9

Step 3 sees bars, restaurants and cafés allowed to reopen their indoor spaces, while the curfew is pushed back to 11pm and workers return to the office.

For full details of the reopening plan, click HERE.

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Step 4: from June 30

The final stage of reopening sees events of up to 1,000 people - indoor and outdoor - allowed again, an end to limits on numbers in restaurants and the end of the curfew.

Health passport

From June 9th, France's 'health passport' becomes active. 

The pass itself is already up and running via the TousAntiCovid app but from June 9th it will start to be required to enter certain large events such as concerts or sports matches. The app allows users to provide one of three things:  a vaccination certificate, proof of a negative PCR or antigen test taken in the previous 48 hours, or proof that you have recently recovered from Covid (having tested positive more than two weeks ago and less than six months ago).

It will not come into use for international travel until July 1st.

For full details on how to use the health passport, click HERE.

Travel allowed again from USA

One part of the reopening plan concerns overseas travel, with a provisional date of June 9th to allow travel from non-EU countries including the USA.

This will be using the health passport.

Brexit deadline

Brits who moved to France before December 31st, 2020 have until June 30th to apply for residency. This applies to everyone, even if you have been living in France for a long time, previously had a residency card or are married to a French person. Find out how to apply HERE.

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Gradual withdrawal of furlough money 

With lockdown easing, state support for workers who are temporarily unemployed because of lockdown is lowered from June.

From June 1st, workers on chomage partiel (partial unemployment, or furlough) will only get 60 percent of the amount of their gross salary, instead of 70 percent. This means 72 percent of their net salary instead of 84 percent. Employees working in the sectors most affected by the pandemic (hotels, restaurants, tourism, events) aren’t concerned. 

Higher Gas prices 

On June 1st, regulated gas prices with French utility multinational Engie will increase by 4.4 percent. 

This increase will be of 1.2 percent for customers who use gas for cooking, 2.6 percent for those who use gas for cooking and hot water, and 4.6 percent for homes with gas heating.

Tax deadlines

While the annual tax declaration was due on May 26th for those living in départements 1 to 19, residents of French départements 20 to 54 have until June 1st, 2021 at 11.59pm to file their tax returns.

As for those living in French départements 55 to 976, they still have until Monday June 8th, 2021 at 11.59pm. 

Full details of who needs to complete a declaration and how to fill in the form HERE.

End of the ‘winter truce’ 

The annual 'winter truce' ends on June 1st. 

French government had extended the winter eviction truce for the second year in a row due to the continuing Covid-19 health crisis. 

La trêve hivernale usually runs for five months, from November 1st until March 31st, and marks a period when French landlords are not legally allowed to evict their tenants for any reason.

This year, more than 33 000 households - about 66 000 people’ according to the Abbé Pierre Foundation - risk being evicted. 

Summer sales

The summer sales begin on June 30th this year, pushed back a week at the request of business owners who have been struggling with lockdown and curfew.

Fête de la musique

The annual music festival will take place on its usual date of June 21st, with extra rules on curfew, mask-wearing and social distancing.

Google Photos is no longer free

Sad news for Google Photos users. From June 1st, the cloud storage provider will start charging for storage once more than 15 gigs on the account have been used. 

It will cost €2 per month or €20 per year to be able to store 100 gigs. Also, users who have been inactive for 2 years in Gmail, Drive or Photos may have their content deleted. 

 

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