By Benoit Van Overstraeten and Ingrid Melander
PARIS (Reuters) – The French parliament suspended debate on a new Covid-19-related law earlier on Wednesday after opposition lawmakers demanded an explanation from President Emmanuel Macron about comments he reportedly wanted to “irritate” non-nationals vaccinated.
Macron made an observation in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien published Tuesday night. The president also said that unvaccinated people are “irresponsible” and that he planned to make their lives so complicated that they would eventually have to get the vaccine.
The interview was published shortly before lawmakers resumed a debate on the new bill, which will make it mandatory to present proof of vaccination against Covid-19 for entry into restaurants, cinemas and trains.
The session was quickly filled with a discussion of the president’s comments.
“A president cannot say things like that,” lawmaker Christian Jacob, leader of the opposition conservative Les Republicans party, told parliament. “I am in favor of the vaccine passport, but I cannot support a text whose aim is to ‘irritate’ the French.”
“Is that your goal, yes or no? We cannot continue debating without having a clear answer about this”, he said.
Other opponents echoed Jacob’s comments and demanded that Prime Minister Jean Castex come to talk to them. The session was suspended just before 2:00 am, and scheduled to return at 3:00 pm local time.
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