“Shock” for the government, indignity for his opponents: by saying he wanted to “piss off” the unvaccinated, Emmanuel Macron sparked a growing uproar on Wednesday, forcing the oppositions to clarify their opinion on the vaccine pass debated at the Assembly.
“The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do it, until the end. That’s the strategy”, proclaims the head of state in an interview with the Parisian Tuesday.
“When my freedom threatens that of others, I become irresponsible. An irresponsible person is no longer a citizen,” he added.
The political storm is raging in the heart of the 5th wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, and in the midst of a tense examination of the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass.
The debates, which had been suspended for the first time during the night of Monday to Tuesday after a show of hands welcomed by the oppositions, had finally resumed Tuesday evening.
The deputies then managed to agree on the thorny issue of the vaccination pass for minors, postponed from 12 to 16 years for school trips and peri and extracurricular activities (but not for “private activities” such as going to a restaurant) .
The interview with the Head of State has revived the powder, and after multiple suspensions of the session and a futile request for opposition to see Prime Minister Jean Castex come into the hemicycle, the debates were again suspended.
“They will resume this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. and I hope that reason will prevail”, underlined the Minister of Relations in Parliament Marc Fesneau Wednesday morning on franceinfo, confirming that the entry into force of the vaccine pass on January 15 “remains a goal”.
However, the calendar is still threatened with derailment: the discussions at the Palais Bourbon stalled Tuesday evening and 450 amendments remain on the menu. The Assembly should in theory complete their examination Wednesday evening, then the Senate will seize the text Thursday in committee. But nothing is less certain, the oppositions denouncing, like Sébastien Jumel (PCF), a “sanitary Benalla”.
– “Controlled skidding” –
For Marc Fesneau, the words of Emmanuel Macron will on the contrary “produce an electric shock” for the unvaccinated which will be “life saving”. And recall the new record of Covid contamination, at 271,686 cases on Tuesday. Hospitalizations also continue to increase.
In this situation, the infectious disease specialist Eric Caumes “understands” as a doctor the “probably controlled slippage” of Emmanuel Macron, underlining the “exasperation” of caregivers facing the unvaccinated.
“As a citizen I am a little more surprised, but it is the electoral campaign which has started”, he remarked on BFMTV and RMC.
The presidential candidates and the oppositions castigate, them, the “insulting remarks” of the Head of State who should “unite” rather than “divide”.
“Reunite France”, laconically tweeted the PS presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo; “unworthy and irresponsible statement” according to the PCF candidate Fabien Roussel; “political fault” for the EELV candidate Yannick Jadot, and for the LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it is a “staggering admission of Macron”: “the vaccination pass is a collective punishment against individual freedom”.
– LR “cannot endorse” the text –
On the right, the candidate Valérie Pécresse says she is “outraged” and calls for “an end to the five-year period of contempt”.
Three months before the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron “falls into the camp of the populists with Ms. Le Pen and Mr. Zemmour. It is a dangerous game led by the power in place which does not deal with the health crisis but aims for his re-election. permanent “, accused the boss of deputies LR Damien Abad on Sud Radio on Wednesday morning.
Republicans targeted by the government, which accuses them of playing a double game, between public support for the vaccination pass and criticism and voting against once in the chamber.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal thus summoned Valérie Pécresse on Tuesday to “clarify her position”. “In responsibility (…), we will not oppose this text,” replied the candidate, who has jumped in the polls in recent weeks and is now given in the second round of the presidential election against Emmanuel Macron.
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