The Assembly votes against the health pass in the bill for the gradual exit from the state of health emergency this Tuesday, May 11, 2021. – Jacques Witt / SIPA
Against all expectations, the National Assembly voted Tuesday against the key article of the bill for the gradual exit from the state of health emergency. This is the article including the controversial “health pass”. The scales have tilted against him after the Modem dropped LREM to protest against the vagueness of the text.
The deputies rejected Article 1 by 108 votes against 103. “There was no dialogue and listening” on “the red lines” of the text, within the majority, explained Philippe Latombe (MoDem ), stressing the unanimity of his group against the article. The government can still ask for a second deliberation.
Health police powers deemed exorbitant
The bill on “management of the exit from the health crisis” sets a transition period from June 2 to October 31 during which the government can continue to exercise health police powers deemed exorbitant by the oppositions and some defenders of public freedoms. .
Article 1 rejected by the deputies was the heart of the text with the possibility for the Prime Minister to continue to take curfew measures until June 30, 2021 inclusive, within a time slot between 9 p.m. and 6 hours maximum.
Jean Castex’s too much statement
It also provided for a health pass which must make access to large gatherings or certain places subject to the presentation of a negative result of a virological screening, or a proof of vaccination or a certificate of his recovery following a contamination.
It sparked heated debate Monday night. For large gatherings requiring the “pass”, a gauge of 1,000 people has been promised by the government but without setting it in stone with the law. The publication of an interview with the ParisianOf the Prime Minister did not fix anything. Jean Castex has indeed announced that at the cinema or at the show, “the rule will be 1 seat in 3, with a ceiling of 800 people per room”.
“This is what happens when we treat national representation with contempt”
After the dramatic turn in the hemicycle, the opposition deputies pointed to the responsibility of the government. “This is what happens when we treat national representation with contempt,” said Philippe Gosselin (LR). “There have been many warnings about the risk of setting up as if nothing had happened in what comes under an exceptional regime”, insisted in turn the Communist Stéphane Peu.
LREM boss Stanislas Guerini deplored this rejection. “I regret it because I am resolutely in favor of the introduction of the health pass, because it will allow us to recover our freedoms more quickly,” he said on RTL. “There can be a second reading in the National Assembly. We will have to find a way to introduce this tool, ”he added.