Extension of the health pass: in the Assembly, the deputies contest a “blank check” given to the government – archyworldys

In the hemicycle of the National Assembly, Tuesday, October 19 in the evening, two antagonistic camps faced each other, again, on the management of the health crisis. After an evening of discussions punctuated by invectives and boos between the majority and the oppositions, article 1^er of the health vigilance bill was adopted by 109 votes to 66. It allows to extend for another eight months, until July 31, 2022, the legal framework which authorizes the executive to initiate the state of health emergency, dubbed by a vote in Parliament. The possibility of using the health pass was also requested from the two assemblies until the end of July 2022.

The executive wishes to have full latitude to act according to the evolution of the health situation, while the winter period raises fears of an epidemic rebound. “Some tremors are being felt locally on the territory, while the situation overseas remains worrying”, underlined, Tuesday, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in front of the deputies.

Nearly 384 amendments were tabled for the examination of this eleventh text presented to Parliament on the management of the health crisis since March 2020. That is three times less than on the text debated in July, which extended for the first time the use from the health pass to certain places of daily life. Proof, if one were needed, that the effectiveness of the measure is no longer questioned by the majority of elected officials.

However, two sticking points remain. First, the period of “health vigilance” deemed too long by the oppositions. Then the modalities of parliamentary control in the upcoming electoral period, because the two assemblies will no longer sit after February 28, 2022.

“Political instrumentalisation”

A preliminary rejection motion, carried by the Les Républicains (LR) group, immediately strained the discussions. ” You want a blank check that allows you to step over the presidential and legislative elections, leading us to a form of relinquishment of Parliament ”, was indignant the deputy LR of Manche Philippe Gosselin. The majority preferred to denounce, through the voice of the deputy of Val-de-Marne Guillaume Gouffier-Cha (La République en Marche, LRM), the risk, “Like this evening, a political instrumentalisation on the back of health crisis management”. A few hours earlier, a demonstration had taken place near the Palais-Bourbon, at the call of the president of the Les Patriotes party, Florian Philippot, bringing together several hundred people opposed to the health pass and vaccination.

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