Some thought that the debacle inflicted on the presidential group during the legislative elections was going to compromise the bills linked to the health crisis… They got the finger in the eye. This Thursday, June 23, the European Parliament voted in favor of extending the Union’s covid certificate. At the national level, the government is already considering extending the vaccination pass until March 31, 2023.
A bill whose author was ousted
According to an article in the media Atlantico, published on June 23, the Minister of Health and Prevention Brigitte Bourguignon submitted her first (and last?) bill related to Covid to the Council of State. In the text, it provides for the extension of the maligned vaccine pass until March 2023.
This bill, the minister would have tabled it just before having to salute. Defeated in the legislative elections on Sunday June 19, she is forced by republican tradition to take the exit door.
That said, worried about the “BA.5 variant, which is very transmissible, but whose symptoms are less serious than those of historical variants”, the former Minister of Health continues to take his role very seriously. Struggling to leave office, Brigitte Bourguignon continues to promote the fourth dose of vaccine on social networks.
Vaccination is one of our best weapons against Covid.
I call on our most fragile, immunocompromised or over 60-year-old fellow citizens, particularly in nursing homes, to also receive their booster dose. pic.twitter.com/3Sseo7382y— Brigitte Bourguignon (@BrigBourguignon) June 23, 2022
If the bill was to be discussed at the Council of Ministers on June 21, it was postponed to June 28. Let’s see what this text really entails.
A state of health emergency until March 31, 2023
Registered urgently from June 29, the text of the law proposed by the executive involves a “monitoring and health security system in the fight against Covid-19”. So thearticle 1is plans to replace the date of “July 31, 2022” for the end of the state of health emergency with that of “March 31, 2023”. It is the caterpillar which restarts.
Read also: The pass is back, our fight continues
According to’article 2the Prime Minister can “impose on persons aged at least twelve years wishing to travel to or from French territory, Corsica, or one of the communities mentioned (…) to present the result of a virological screening examination not concluding with contamination by covid-19, proof of vaccination status or a certificate of recovery following contamination.
L’article 3, meanwhile, provides that a committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks will be “established with the Minister responsible for Health and the Minister responsible for Research”. The latter will have to issue “periodically opinions on the health situation and the scientific knowledge relating thereto”. These opinions will be given to the President of the National Assembly and to the President of the Senate.
Barely a few days after the result of the legislative elections, the question arises: will the oppositions extend the full powers of Emmanuel Macron or not?
NUPES, RN: will the oppositions cause trouble?
The dice are not yet cast. After the vote in favor of extending the EU’s covid certificate to the European Parliament, will the National Assembly agree on yet another Covid bill? Some deputies from the National Rally (RN) and the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (NUPES) have denounced the attacks on public freedoms linked to the health policy of the Castex government. What will happen during the first discussions within the hemicycle of the National Assembly on this subject?
Many seem to be wondering: how does Emmanuel Macron plan to govern? If some opposition deputies wanted to counter the full powers of the head of state, it’s a safe bet that the hemicycle of the National Assembly risks being turbulent.
See also: “Weakened leader” and “ungovernable France”, the foreign press comments on the legislative elections
For his part, Florian Philippot, the president of the Patriots, did not fail to react on Twitter. He calls on the opposition to refuse this bill:
In the upcoming covid law, there is the possibility for the government to issue a #PassVaccinal by decree until March 31, 2023!
Incredible scandal!
Oppositions have a duty to vote against!
Rdv Saturday 02/07 2 p.m. Palais Royal national procession! https://t.co/LGvNWq46gO— Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) June 24, 2022
If the Covid episode has been put under a bell for a few weeks, health measures (including the vaccine pass) could well come back at a gallop… Jean-Frédéric Poisson writes in his last column: “In France, very opportunely, the virus reappeared when we were miraculously deprived of its contagiousness during all these months of electoral campaign.