The ping-pong game continues between parliamentarians. The National Assembly voted on the night of Wednesday to Thursday the bill of “health vigilance”, restoring in particular the possibility of using the health pass until July 31, 2022, a date that the Senate had reduced to February 28.
The text was approved by 147 votes to 125 and two abstentions, at the end of a new reading which restores the text, profoundly modified last week by the upper house, in the direction desired by the government. After this meeting at the Palais-Bourbon, the senators must again work on the text during the day of this Thursday. Finally, the National Assembly must have the last word on Friday during a final reading.
A period that includes the presidential
Some 500 amendments, coming largely from the benches of LR but also from the left, hostile to the government bill, were examined during an often stormy marathon session that began early Wednesday afternoon and which ended. ended around 3 a.m. The main dispute concerned the use of the health pass until July 31. The senators, like the right and left oppositions at the Palais-Bourbon, denounce a “blank check” given to the government over a period which “spans” the presidential and legislative elections.
The power is “afraid of having a debate on this subject a few weeks before the presidential election”, launched the deputy LR Julien Dive. Socialist Lamia El Aaraje accused the majority of “playing with democracy”. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, assured that this date allowed to have “readability and visibility” on the progression of the virus “which continues to circulate” and the means to fight against. The government also recalled that a parliamentary debate on the subject was scheduled for February 15, without succeeding in convincing the oppositions who demand a proper examination of government policy with a vote.
The deputies also reconsidered the decision of the senators to remove a controversial provision allowing the directors of schools to know the vaccination status of the pupils. They also rejected provisions introduced by senators aimed at “territorializing” the use of the health pass according to the vaccination rate and the circulation of the virus according to the departments. The Republicans and the left have already planned appeals to the Constitutional Council.