"Pardon, we are not at the Elysee ...": repeated on his mask in the Assembly, Ruffin tackles the president

In the midst of a debate on the extension of the sanitary pass this Tuesday in the National Assembly, the deputy of France Insoumise François Ruffin made a remarkable exit.

On images that he himself posted on his Twitter account, we can see him ... the mask under his chin.

An oversight?

It would be bad to know the elected official of the Somme.

On the video, the former journalist and director scans the room and pretends to have a flashback: "Oh yes, sorry," he says, bravado.

A blunder that is not a blunder

In reality, this little blunder that does not seem to be one serves Ruffin's speech.

He continues: "It is true that I am not at the Élysée, I must wear the mask, here, in the Assembly".

Are the rules different between these two places of power?

Not at all, and that is precisely what the hon. Member is trying to point out.

On October 14, the President of the Republic was seen without any facial protection against the Covid-19, at the Elysee Palace, in the presence of many guests, no more masked than him.

He celebrated his victory in a charity football match, organized for the fifty years of the Variétés club de France.

VIDEO.

After his football match, Emmanuel Macron celebrates at the Elysee

The sequence is picked up by the media, and gives rise to some criticism.

At the Assembly this Tuesday, François Ruffin drives home the point.

“I don't get footballers, so I put my mask back on, I forgot,” he laughs.

Behind the humor, the deputy sees it as a way of opposing the extension of the sanitary pass.

- Mr. Ruffin, your mask!

- Excuse me, I forgot that we weren't at the Elysee Palace dancing to I Will Survive here.

pic.twitter.com/JNm9SHRZ65

- François Ruffin (@Francois_Ruffin) October 20, 2021

“With this piece of legislation, you have made your choice. That of full powers to the president. That of the Republic of the QR code. Should we resign ourselves to overriding democracy? No, I don't accept it. The French do not accept it ”, he declared, masked this time, during the exchanges, referring the government to its lack of consultation during the health crisis, and criticizing the organization which resulted from it.

A blow of communication inevitably very appreciated by rebellious France, which opposes the vaccine constraint: “Excellent answer!

“, Particularly enthusiastic Antoine Léaument, head of digital communication for Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

“François Ruffin is our mockingbird and our Jean de la Fontaine in the land of Jupiter.

Salutaire ”, also commented the Communist deputy of Seine-Maritime Sébastien Jumel, on Twitter, this Wednesday.

Animated debates

Like this sequence, the debates promise to be heated in the National Assembly.

The majority want to extend the health pass until July 31, eight months without parliamentary control.

The text of the law is being examined while the epidemic is at its lowest, but a slight jump has been observed for a few days.

See also "Denial of democracy": heated debates in the Assembly around the health pass

The executive wants at all costs to spare itself, in the midst of the electoral campaign, a trial of unpreparedness in the event of a resumption of the epidemic.

It is a question of "avoiding at all costs a new wave" which would saturate hospitals in the middle of winter, said the Minister of Health Olivier Véran in front of the deputies.

But elected officials from both right and left also criticize the plan to maintain the transitional regime for exiting the state of health emergency.

They evoke a "blank check", in a "state of exception" which becomes "the norm".