Hectic atmosphere in the Assembly. The examination of the health security bill in the face of the “rebound” of the Covid started in an electric atmosphere Monday evening at the National Assembly. For his baptism of fire in the hemicycle, the Minister of Health François Braun immediately defended the “very targeted but necessary” measures of this first text of the legislature, the examination of which will continue on Tuesday.
This bill makes it possible to continue to collect health data on screening tests and vaccination, and authorizes a possible health pass at the borders. The government “joins the calendar” voted by the deputies in committee for these two measures, permitted until the end of January 2023, rather than the end of March as planned in the original version, indicated François Braun.
A call for everyone’s “civility”
The bill legally confirms the end of the main restrictions at the end of July. It is “the extinction of the legal regime of the state of health emergency” and of the “health and vaccination pass in the daily life of the French”, underlined the minister, by demanding the “civility” of everyone on the port of the mask in “crowded places and public transport”.
The emergency doctor was booed by elected RNs when he repeated that the reintegration of unvaccinated caregivers was “not on the agenda” given the epidemic situation. Same fate for LREM rapporteur Caroline Abadie, heckled by the opposition when she felt that “the government has been managing this crisis very very well for two years… You can shout louder. The French know it, they tell us every day.
At the podium, the rebellious Raquel Garrido came to defend a motion of preliminary rejection, narrowly rejected by 192 votes against 174. “Get used to finding limits to your abuse of power”, she vituperated, supported by other leftist groups. The RN voted for the motion: “What are you waiting for to reintegrate these caregivers” unvaccinated “thrown away like filth”, launched Thomas Ménagé to the government.
Critics around the possible health pass at the borders
The chairman of the Law Commission, Sacha Houlié (LREM), took up the iron against those he calls the “populists” who “communicated hand in hand against vaccines”, targeting the RN and LFI. “No, vaccines do not prevent contamination but, 1,000 times yes, vaccines prevent contracting serious forms, (…) vaccines save lives! “, he insisted.
Several elected officials have denounced the fact that the possible health pass at the borders applies for journeys between mainland France and overseas territories. The debate will not fail to be tight on this point during the examination of the second article of the text.
In the afternoon, between 150 and 200 anti-sanitary pass demonstrators protested against the bill near the Assembly around Florian Philippot or the sovereignist deputy Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. Consideration of this bill was postponed to the evening due to the debate on the motion of censure of the left rejected during the afternoon, after a stormy debate too.