Freedoms, calendar, controls … the subjects of contention for the health bill

Published on : 07/19/2021 – 5:42 PM

“Everywhere, we will have the same approach: to recognize good citizenship and to put the restrictions on the unvaccinated rather than on all.” On July 12, Emmanuel Macron announced a series of measures to counter the rapid progression of the Delta variant. This health bill, which must be voted on this week by Parliament, includes compulsory vaccination for professions in contact with vulnerable people, but also the extension of the health pass to many public places, as well as the introduction of the mandatory quarantine for infected people. So many measures which represent a major turning point in French health policy and generate lively debates in France.

Ideological debate

Anxious to preserve the restart of the French economy, the government is now advocating a strong way to avoid a new confinement. An approach approved by a majority of French people according to several polls, such as that of the Ipsos-Sopra Steria institute who estimates that 62% of the population is in favor of using the health pass to enter a public place. However, while the French had so far been rather wise vis-à-vis the health policy of the government, tens of thousands of demonstrators – 114,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior – took to the streets on Saturday July 17 across the country, in the name of the defense of individual freedoms against the “dictatorship” of the health pass.

Gatherings joined by “anti-vaccines” but also thousands of demonstrators who came to express their anger at the turning point in French health policy. “We must stop the government of lies“, denounced Monday Florian Philippot, former member of the National Rally today at the head of his movement Les Patriotes, assimilating government policy to a barely disguised vaccine obligation. To promote vaccination, the government announced that it would make the so-called “comfort” tests paid in the fall. However, the executive rejects any accusation of authoritarian drift: on the contrary, we seek to “encroach as little as possible on the freedoms of the French”, said Monday government spokesperson Gabriel Attal, deeming the new measures essential to counter the “stratospheric” resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic.

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A discriminatory bill?

While the use of the health pass was initially to be limited to attendance at large gatherings of more than 1,000 people and allow free travel in Europe, the government now wants to extend it to many activities of daily life. From Wednesday, it must become mandatory in all places of leisure and culture bringing together more than 50 people before being extended in early August to cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, hospitals and retirement homes or even to all long-distance journeys. by plane, train or bus.

Deeming this measure discriminatory, several managers of cinemas, producers and distributors announced that they had seized the Council of State. “The signatory organizations are asking the judge to postpone the implementation of the health pass by aligning at least the date and terms of this measure for all sectors welcoming the public”, we can read in the press release dated July 16. The nine signatory associations judge in particular that this measure with “almost immediate effect” does not allow “to anticipate the situation” and “strongly weakens the whole sector.” Critics that the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, tried to defuse in the JDD on July 18: “The health pass should not affect the turnover of the sectors concerned, which we also continue to support throughout the summer thanks to the solidarity fund.” Launched in March 2020 by the government to keep companies particularly affected by Covid-19 afloat, this aid has since been extended until August 16.

The puzzle of controls

Finally, some uncertainty remains as to the application of control measures to ensure proper compliance with these new rules. The draft law stipulates that the operators of places or establishments, the organizers of events as well as the operators of transport services are required to control the health passes under penalty of a fine of 45,000 euros and a year of imprisonment. A rule somewhat questioned, it seems, by Minister Bruno Le Maire Monday on France 2 : “There must always be sanctions when there are rules, otherwise they are not effective. But these sanctions must be proportionate, they must not be excessive, but dissuasive, 45,000 euros that seems excessive to me.” Government spokesman Gabriel Attal also tried to reassure companies on Monday “that there will be flexibility and that we will be more in the support than in the sanction (…) the first days”, while specifying that those who “do not want to apply the rules” will have to assume the consequences.

Contacted by France 24 two days before the implementation of controls in cinemas, Marc-Olivier Sebbag, deputy general delegate of the National Federation of French cinemas, is puzzled: “Besides the problem of the cost of these measures, which are the responsibility of companies, these new laws pose a real problem of responsibility: if the control is put in place but it is not optimal and people manage to enter, who is responsible? small structures which cannot hire personnel to carry out these controls? Employees would be entitled to refuse this additional task which does not correspond to their attributions … On these aspects we await clear answers from the government. ”

In addition to the extension of the health pass, the government has announced a mandatory 10-day quarantine for people infected with Covid-19, which provides for an exit authorization only from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. This confinement, which was until now a recommendation, also raises questions about the controls. “We do not have many police officers available to exercise this mission, which is absolutely not in our core business,” warned Wednesday on Franceinfo Stanislas Gaudon, general delegate of the Alliance police union, while the government wants to impose police and gendarmerie checks.

Despite the opposition of rebellious France and the National Rally, the principles of the health bill are the subject of fairly broad approval by deputies. After its adoption Monday by the Council of Ministers, the text will be examined in the National Assembly and then in the Senate in the coming days, with a view to final adoption by the weekend.