The examination of the text aimed at transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, which began on Monday in the hemicycle, gave rise to heated debates between deputies.
On the one hand, try to contain the wave of the omicron variant, the increase in contamination and the influx of patients into hospitals. On the other hand, to take the blows of the oppositions, standing wind against the latest measures to fight against the epidemic. For the executive, the return to school is sensitive. As proof, the agitated debates during the first day of examination of the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, this Monday in the National Assembly.
Presented by Olivier Véran as a text by “Cold blood and responsibility”, it provides in particular for the introduction of a vaccination pass to access leisure activities, bars and restaurants, fairs, seminars and trade shows, interregional public transport, etc. To frequent these places, one could until now present proof of vaccination or a negative test, this last possibility is removed: the health pass becomes only vaccinal. “Let us not lose sight of the fact that the objective of this law is not to constrain the individual and collective freedoms of the French (but) to save lives, to protect our hospitals, to relieve the workload of our caregivers “, defended Véran during the presentation of the text. Sign according to him that “French society is not divided” on this subject, more than “53 million (of French) received a first injection.”
“Totalitarian society”
Faced with the assumed objective of the government (put pressure on the unvaccinated), the oppositions castigated in the hemicycle a text of law infringing on freedoms. The rebellious deputy and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon thundered against the risk of a “Totalitarian society” with the authorization given to the managers of the places subject to the pass to carry out identity checks. “Now the people who work in bars and restaurants are going to check identity. But what world are we going to live in at the end? This is a totalitarian society, an authoritarian society! ”
“This is not an effective health measure, said the president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen. We have now known for weeks that we can be doubly vaccinated, or even tripled, catch the Covid and transmit it. “ According to the presidential candidate, the vaccine pass is a “danger”, because it creates a “False security.”
“Rights and duties”
Despite a few dissonant voices, the parliamentary majority united behind the government. “We can brandish freedom in all directions, but freedom is not a set of rights, it is a set of duties and rights”, thus launched the deputy of Charente-Maritime Raphaël Gérard. The elected LREM, hospitalized for several days in March 2020 and plunged into a coma after being diagnosed positive for Covid, spoke with emotion in the hemicycle, to the applause of his colleagues. “My freedom today is 30 cm of cables and 3 kg of material that I carry 24 hours a day until the end of my days., he said, grabbing a satchel he carries with him. This is the reality, it is mine and it is that of tens of thousands of people in the country whose lives have been turned upside down by an epidemic. “
“The temptation is great to transform the vote into a referendum on the management of the health crisis”, for his part warned the LR deputy for the Territory of Belfort Ian Boucard, before asserting the sense of responsibility within his group. In the opposition, the PS thus made it known that it would vote “In principle” for the vaccination pass, like the majority of LR deputies. The bill currently being debated is the subject of more than 650 amendments, which will be discussed overnight from Monday to Tuesday. It must then go to committee in the Senate on Wednesday, before being debated in session Thursday. The government hopes to move quickly and expects final adoption by Parliament by the weekend, for entry into force on January 15.
“Sad passions”
If the votes against and the rejected amendments should not thwart the adoption of the text, tensions remain high and testify to the fractures of society, tested by two years of epidemic. “The refusal of vaccination carries many of the sad passions of which our society is capable”, affirmed Olivier Véran. Outside the Palais-Bourbon, the former FN and self-proclaimed leader of the opponents of vaccination Florian Philippot harangued several dozen anti-pass, when the deputies were debating.
A further sign of this context of tension, many members of the majority these days are subjected to attacks and violent threats concerning their position on the health policy of the government. Intimidation, promise of beheading, threatening letters or even fires … Faced with these acts, the Minister of the Interior recently asked to increase the protection of parliamentarians by strengthening the patrols of the police.