Facing a Covid-19 epidemic blazing, the deputies examine Monday the bill transforming the health pass in vaccination pass the adoption of which is beyond doubt, despite a tense climate and the hostility of several parties.
At the Palais Bourbon on Monday, then in the Senate from Wednesday, the law “Strengthening the tools for managing the health crisis” is due to come into effect on January 15.
This text “Responds to the epidemic recovery in an efficient, graduated manner. He chooses science “and” responsibility “, insists the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, while France has just crossed the bar of 200,000 new daily cases on several occasions.
To cope with this surge, the government wants to put even more pressure on the nearly five million unvaccinated French people over the age of 12 who, for want of being able to justify a vaccination status, will no longer have access to activities. facilities, restaurants and bars, fairs or interregional public transport.
A negative test will no longer suffice, except for access to health establishments and services.
To have a complete vaccination schedule, Olivier Véran announced that, from February 15, he will have to perform his booster dose four months – and no longer seven – after his second dose, specifying that an infection is always equivalent to an injection.
According to the LREM president of the Law Commission, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the vaccination pass will allow “To avoid much more coercive measures”, such as containments or curfews.
“Brutalizing measure”
In the opposition, the PS group says it votes “In principle” for the vaccination pass, like the majority of LR deputies.
The rebels, who denounce a “Brutalizing measure” and an “Illusion of protection”, the National Rally and the Communists, will vote against.
These votes will be insufficient to derail the text in Parliament. But tensions around the future law remain high. Several elected officials from all political stripes have spoken of threats.
The deputy president of the LREM group Aurore Bergé, who will file a complaint for a tweet where she is compared to women shorn for collaboration after the Second World War, denounced in a forum Sunday at the JDD the intimidation aimed at “That parliamentarians no longer feel free to vote in their soul and conscience”.
The bill also provides for tougher penalties.
Holding a false pass will now be punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of € 75,000. Presenting a pass belonging to someone else or transmitting a pass to someone else with a view to its fraudulent use will be punished by a fixed fine of € 1,000, compared to € 135 today.
Managers of establishments open to the public will be able to verify identities themselves. The measure provoked lively discussions in committee, right and left judging the device “Unmanageable”.
Gauges
“It exists in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, it’s really customary” and ” the same thing ” that when a cashier asks for proof of identity to refuse a “Minor of 15 years to buy a bottle of vodka in a supermarket”, responds Ms. Braun-Pivet.
Against the opinion of the LREM rapporteur, the deputies also voted in committee to adapt the gauges in the stadiums and rooms, in proportion to their reception capacity. But the measure may not remain in session.
“We would quickly enter a gas factory”, opposes Minister Véran.
Several elected officials fought unsuccessfully to exempt minors from 12 to 17 years of age from a vaccination pass. A negative test may be sufficient for school trips, on the other hand voted the majority.
The health pass will not be necessary for work, but the government will propose to impose an administrative fine on companies that do not play the telecommuting game.
Finally, the bill provides for a state of health emergency until March 31 in Reunion Island and Martinique. But the date of entry into force of the vaccination pass will be postponed overseas where the vaccination rate is lower.
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