Vaccine pass: “We are not two or three days away” for its implementation, according to Bruno Retailleau

“We could not legislate on this text in hysteria”. Invited in the Political Interview on LCI this Tuesday, the president of the Les Républicains group in the Senate Bruno Retailleau assumed the time taken by the Senators to study the bill for the introduction of the vaccination pass. After being adopted on January 6 by the National Assembly, this text was examined on Monday January 10 in committee, then between this Tuesday January 11 in the hemicycle.

“With almost all the group presidents, we considered that we could not legislate on this text in hysteria, and it is the honor of the Senate”, said the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, believing that “last week, the climate was not serene”. Especially since according to him, time is not so pressing.

“It takes weeks, a month and a half to have a complete vaccination schedule”, he objected, indicating that those who are vaccinated today for the first time will not be able to have their pass until February. “We are not two or three days away”, he concluded, refusing to give a precise date for the adoption of the law.

Moreover, the only delay taken by the text falls on Parliament, he defended: “Deputies En Marche were at the refreshment bar, the majority party was not at their post”, he launched, referring to the suspension of debate after midnight on January 4 after the refusal of certain deputies to continue the study of the text. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal estimated that the vaccine pass will come into effect “no later than the first days of the week of January 17”, instead of January 15 as originally planned.

The leader of the Republican Senators, however, affirmed that he was going to vote for this bill, not being “in Pavlovian, systematic opposition”. He stressed that the text aimed to combat the overrepresentation of non-vaccinated people in intensive care, which today occupy 80% of beds according to him. “The goal is to protect them first”, he estimated.

“We will vote for the text but we will amend it”, he pointed out, however, detailing a list of limitations. One of the safeguards imposed by the Senate will be “a mechanism for the self-destruction of the vaccination pass as soon as the health situation no longer requires it”, a device “protector of the freedom of the French”, he assured. This amendment would allow the pass to be imposed only when admissions linked to Covid-19 exceed 10,000 patients treated at the national level. A figure climbing today to 23,000 people.

Furthermore, “No way” to put in place “the sanction, the policing of companies” about telecommuting, he added. “We are reluctant to identity checks, reserved for judicial police officers”, he finally said. “In the event of suspicion (especially in the case of the sale of alcohol to adults only by tobacconists, editor’s note) we will find derogations, but precisely, we would prefer to use the derogatory mode rather than systematically requesting a verification of identity”, he argued.

In addition, the Senators have also decided to limit this vaccination pass to adults, minors aged 12 to 17 remaining subject to the health pass only.

After criticism addressed by the majority, in particular on the dissensions within the LR camp on the vaccine pass in the National Assembly, the Republican senators will vote “overwhelmingly” for this bill, assured Bruno Retailleau. “I recommend that the government listen to the opposition, especially when it is constructive”, he concluded. “We will try to work away from hysteria”, he hammered.