With 156 votes in favor, 60 against and 14 abstentions, the text was adopted by the National Assembly late on Sunday evening. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in France over the weekend against the tightening of the corona.
The Senate had already approved the law before the National Assembly. The final version of the legal text had been struggled for days. After a series of changes to the original bill, MPs of the National Assembly and Senators finally reached a compromise on Sunday after a four-hour session.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the tightened measures in mid-July. The government wants to curb the massive increase in corona infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant.
The law that has now been passed provides for a corona vaccination for health and care workers as well as firefighters and other rescue workers. Contrary to what the government has suggested, vaccination refusals in these professions are not threatened with dismissal, only a suspension of their salary.
With the expansion of the health passport, which provides information about a vaccination or a negative test, a corona test obligation for non-immunized people in French restaurants and long-distance trains should apply for the first time from August. In cinemas, theaters or museums, a vaccination, a survived infection or a negative corona test must be proven since Wednesday.
More than 160,000 people protested against the stricter rules in France on Saturday. In Paris, the demonstrators chanted, among other things, “freedom, freedom” and called for the overthrow of President Emmanuel Macron, whom they described as a “tyrant”.
However, the demonstrators do not represent the majority of the population: In a survey by the Elabe Institute for the broadcaster BFMTV on July 13, 76 percent of the French spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination for health workers. The expansion of the health pass also met with a majority of approval.