Can we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel? The government has submitted to the deputies the bill concerning
"the management of exit from the health crisis"
. Warning: despite its title, this text does not however mean a return to normal life but a gradual lifting of restrictions to fight against the epidemic. Olivier Véran warned that this bill should not be interpreted as
"a tipping point"
.
"It does not mark a clear break between the constraints linked to the epidemic and the return to life before,"
said the Minister of Health. Proof among others: this text does not endorse an exit from the state of health emergency, also extended until October 31, 2021.
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Clearly, the vote of the deputies will above all make it possible to validate the reopening schedule, promised by Emmanuel Macron during his speech at the end of April.
It must also leave the government the possibility of tightening the restrictions in the event of an epidemic resumption.
The text states, for example, that the executive can impose local confinements in territories that can bring together up to
“10% of the national population”.
It also gives the possibility of maintaining curfews and allowing the implementation of the famous "sanitary pass".
"Red line"
As expected, this latest measure makes some of the deputies cringe, even in the ranks of the majority. Designed to be able to travel abroad, this tool - digital and / or paper - is also being considered for access to gatherings or places bringing together more than 1,000 people. It may replace the negative result of a virological screening, a proof of vaccination or a certificate proving its recovery following contamination. In the law committee, the deputies wished to regulate its usefulness, explicitly excluding daily activities, such as access to restaurants, cinemas, or theaters.
"The pass remains the best way to promote our vaccination efforts
,
"
said Véran.
In committee, the majority voted for a "red line" to explicitly exclude daily activities from the perimeter of the "pass": restaurants, cinemas, theater, etc.
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"
This text is a bit like the Canada Dry, it is akin to a way out of the crisis which is not one,"
comments MP LR Philippe Gosselin.
"If the ordinary regime is to live with the virus, it is ordinary legislation that must apply, with the theory of exceptional circumstances"
in the event of a very serious situation, argued the socialist Boris Vallaud.
Last summer, during the vote on the previous bill to end the health crisis, the majority gave a large discharge to the government. The oppositions had voted against. In the meantime, the exceptional regime introduced in March 2020 was reactivated in October, then extended in February, while the human toll of the pandemic in France exceeds 100,000 deaths. The president of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR) warned in
Le Figaro
, that he will say "no" to the two months during which the government can declare a state of health emergency "
on part of the territory
". "
It can only be done under the control of Parliament
."