“The false pass kills, it is reality”. In addition to this observation, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran indicated on the night of Wednesday to Thursday before the National Assembly that “5% of hospitalized patients” had fake health passes and were not vaccinated.
“The measures of the law seem balanced to us”, launched the minister to the LFI deputies who rejected a reinforcement of the sanctions in the event of fraud, within the framework of the examination of the bill establishing the vaccine pass.
An amendment on “repentance”
The possession of a false pass must now be punished by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. Presenting a pass belonging to another person or transmitting a pass to another with a view to its fraudulent use will be punished by a fixed fine of 1,000 euros, compared to 135 euros today.
On the other hand, the deputies adopted a government amendment on “repentance”: people holding false passes will not be penalized if they are injected with a first dose of vaccine within 30 days of committing the offense. The Socialists but also Laurence Vichnievsky (MoDem) expressed their strong reservations, the latter evoking a “feeling of impunity” which could develop.
During the night, the debates in the hemicycle were also nourished especially on identity checks in connection with the vaccination pass: in addition to the police, the managers of places and activities subject to the pass, such as cafetiers and restaurateurs, will be able to verify it under certain conditions, stipulates the bill. LR elected officials denounced a “coping between the French”, and the Socialists demanded “to entrust the tasks of control only to the police”. Will it be necessary “to put the handcuffs” in the restaurant for example, asked Caroline Fiat (LFI). And Martine Wonner, muse of covidosceptics, to fear “a society of denunciation”.
A “fairly banal” check according to Véran
But, replied Olivier Véran, “let’s not make (this control) an object of tyranny”: it is the same verification that is made by tobacconists when buying a pack of cigarettes by an adult, he quoted, assuring that “it is something quite banal” and which will not be “systematic”. “It is in no way an identity check within the meaning of the code of criminal procedure”, added the rapporteur Jean-Pierre Pont (LREM).
The government adopted an amendment to further specify the conditions of control: it is “when there are serious reasons for believing that the document presented is not authentic or does not relate to the person presenting it” that ‘an official identity document may be requested. LR deputies, through the voice of Guillaume Larrivé, announced that they would seize the Constitutional Council on this point of the bill, in the name of “the protection of freedoms”.