First modification:
The revision of the bill, which transforms the health pass into a vaccination pass, was surprisingly suspended by the National Assembly on the night of January 3. The majority of the deputies voted by show of hands against continuing the debate. In response, the Government has indicated that it still wants the vaccination pass to go into effect as soon as possible.
A night of stalled debates took place in the National Assembly on Monday, January 3. The French Government suspended the revision of the bill that reinforces the tools for managing the Covid-19 health crisis in France; one of whose main measures is the transformation of the health pass into a vaccination pass.
The bill stipulates that in order to have a complete vaccination schedule, it will be necessary, as of February 15, to carry out a booster dose four months after the last dose and not seven months. In this way, the French will no longer have access to leisure activities, restaurants and bars, fairs or public transport with only a negative coronavirus test.
This measure aims to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is ravaging several European countries. France has broken records in recent days for new daily cases, despite a vaccination rate of around 90% of the population over 12 years of age.
L’objectif du #PasseVaccinal est de sauver des vies et de protéger nos hôpitaux.
C’est une measure de sang-froid, de responsabilité, worthy of a country that is baissé les bras.
Nous devons faire bloc face à nos ennemis, les variants Delta & Omicron, en protegeant les français. pic.twitter.com/Qy5zdcTpxt– Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) January 3, 2022
The tense debates broke down shortly after midnight, after a majority of deputies voted by show of hands in favor of suspending the session.
A schedule “as close as possible to what was planned”
Now it will be up to the conference of presidents of parliamentary groups at the Bourbon Palace to include the revision of the text of the bill on the Assembly’s agenda, said the vice president of the National Assembly, Annie Genevard. But, this turnaround will derail the timetable for the final adoption of the text by Parliament.
However, the government assures that it is aiming for a timetable “as close as possible to what was foreseen” for the entry into force of the vaccination pass, its spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said on Tuesday. “We will do everything possible to stay as close as possible to the schedule that was planned,” he insisted. The government had previously scheduled it to take effect on January 15.
But, if the opposition succeeded in its “coup”, “obviously we will go to the end of the revision of this text and it will point to the schedule that was planned. We will try to be as close as possible to the schedule that was planned,” Attal added.
The spokesman considered the happiness expressed by the opposition deputies “quite shocking” and said he was “used” to such expressions. This “is aimed at hiding what clearly appears to be a lot of internal turbulence in the past,” Attal said.
“We heard the deputy Éric Ciotti and Valérie Pécresse (candidate for the French presidency) say in the media that they supported the vaccination pass.” But, on Monday night in the hemicycle, “we saw both deputies and Aurélien Pradié, the spokesperson for Mrs Pécresse’s campaign, vote against the vaccination pass. So we wonder who to believe. Valérie Pécresse must clarify your position. “
.@GabrielAttal : “Ces derniers jours, on a vu Valérie Pécresse and Eric Ciotti will direct the medias qu’ils soutenaient le pass vaccinal. Et Hier soir, on a vu les députés LR, dont Aurélien Pradié, le porte-parole de campagne de Valérie Pécresse , vote against “. # le79inter pic.twitter.com/9fQC1GDLiO
– France Inter (@franceinter) January 4, 2022
The suspension of the session was welcomed aloud by the opposition deputies, while the majority summoned the president of the session, Annie Genevard, as well as the president of the group La République en Marche (LREM), Christophe Castaner, and the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran. The minister had previously requested the agreement of the hemicycle to continue the debates after the usual closing time of the Assembly, scheduled for midnight.
An “offense” to the French Government
So far, the debates around the bill that transforms the health pass into a vaccination pass have advanced at a slow pace due to the hostility of the deputies of various opposition political groups who denounce said text.
“It is an offense for the Government. The Government told us that we had to walk or die (…) And now the Government is sinking in the mud (…) and was abandoned by a part of its majority, ”declared Deputy Julien Aubert.
“We escaped from a sleepless night. Véran receives a correction,” left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said on Twitter.
“We have seen an opposition that, on television and on Twitter, tells us that it is in favor of the vaccination pass and supports this bill, but that in the Chamber they have done the opposite, they played to obstruct it and they voted en masse to let the debates cease ”, denounced the president of the Law Commission, Yaël Braun-Pivet.
“Unfortunately, we had the intention to finish the text tonight so that it can be sent to the Senate and, therefore, be applied as quickly as possible (…) but this is frustrated with the opposition’s game.”
This article was translated from its original in French
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