Lively debates around the vaccine pass at the Assembly

In the hemicycle of the National Assembly, the deputies are struggling to hide their weariness.

At the end of an evening of lively debates, they were to largely adopt, on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the twelfth bill on the management of the health crisis presented to Parliament since March 2020. This time, it s' is to transform the health pass into a vaccination pass in the face of the epidemic outbreak.

stressed the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, opening the debates in front of the deputy Annie Genevard, called to replace the President of the Assembly, Richard Ferrand , tested positive for Covid-19.

To discover

• Presidential 2022: where are the candidates in the polls?

Read also

With this text, the government wishes to increase the pressure on the some five million French people aged 12 and over who have not been vaccinated.

In addition to the creation of the vaccine pass - required except for access to health establishments - the text of three articles provides for the tightening of sanctions against fraudsters in the pass and the return of the state of emergency in Reunion Island and Martinique.

insisted Olivier Véran, while defending himself from wanting to

No blank check

However, it is on the ground of public freedoms that the debate began. A preliminary rejection motion, carried by the group La France insoumise (LFI), immediately strained the discussions.

launched Jean-Luc Mélenchon, presenting the vaccine as

given the spread of the virus. In response, the deputy (La République en Marche, LREM) Guillaume Gouffier-Cha accused the leader of the rebels of

Hostile to a law deemed

, the Communists and the elected representatives of the National Rally have joined their voices to the anti-pass.

The Republicans and the Socialists for their part warned that they would vote by majority the text, but they refused to give a blank check to the government by proposing several modifications.

As proof of the strong contestation of certain provisions, some 700 amendments were tabled before the bill was considered.

This is almost twice as much as the text debated in October, which authorized the government to use the health pass if necessary until July 31, 2022.

Read also

Major stumbling block, the obligation of the vaccination pass for minors is considered too severe by opposition deputies.

believes the elected (LR) Philippe Gosselin, while the 12-17 year olds were the last to have been able to be vaccinated, in June.

Elected officials also tried to revisit several measures: the possibility for the managers of establishments receiving the public to verify the identity of the holders of the pass, as well as the administrative fine of 1000 euros maximum per employee to be paid by companies that do not respect the rules of teleworking.

Some elected representatives of the majority stand out

In the ranks of the deputies of the majority, victims of a multiplication of threats against them, some elected officials wished to stand out from the government.

Thus of the Walker Marie-Ange Magne, opposed to a text by which, according to her,

His colleague from LREM Sacha Houlié, for his part, had the adaptation of gauges in stadiums and theaters adopted in committee - the government tried to find a compromise by tabling a new amendment.

See also

After the Assembly, the text must be examined on Wednesday in the Senate.

The majority right-wing senators want to push the government to set an end date for the application of the vaccination pass.

As for the executive, he still hopes that an agreement between senators and deputies will be found on Friday in a joint committee, for the new restrictions to come into force on January 15.