The ping-pong game continues. The Senate, dominated by the right, adopted in the night, in first reading, the health bill, after having restored a possibility of recourse to a health control of travelers, which had been removed by the National Assembly.
The text, which ratifies the expiry on August 1 of the exceptional regimes put in place to fight against the Covid epidemic, was voted by 189 votes against 33. The PS, ecologist, RDSE groups with a radical majority and Independents are abstained. The Communist-majority CRCE group voted against. 14 LR senators (out of 145) also voted against, and 13 abstained.
Deputies and senators will try on Thursday to agree on a common version in a joint joint committee (CMP). In case of agreement, it will still have to be voted on one last time by the two chambers. “We will go tomorrow to the CMP with a rallying point,” said the senator of the majority RDPI group En Marche Alain Richard. If unsuccessful, the shuttle will continue.
Travelers from abroad and overseas
In the National Assembly, the “health watch and security” bill had been amputated from its key article, by a conjunction of votes from the RN, LR and a majority of the left alliance Nupes. A first legislative setback for the presidential majority, which placed the Senate in a position of strength.
Before the senators, the Minister of Health François Braun declared himself “ready” to build a “compromise without compromise”. Noting “a new political and parliamentary deal”, the president of the LR group Bruno Retailleau welcomed the “affirmation of a bicameralism which will now be more balanced”. The Senate approved the tightened device proposed by the rapporteur LR Philippe Bas, amended in session.
It comes in two separate devices. The first concerns travelers from foreign countries. In the event of the appearance of a new, particularly dangerous variant of Covid, the government could impose the presentation of a negative test on boarding. This for one month, a vote of Parliament being necessary beyond. A second similar device could apply for trips to overseas communities “in the event of a risk of saturation” of their health system.
On the initiative of Philippe Bonnecarrère (centrist) and Thani Mohamed Soilihi (RDPI), the possibility of a check was introduced for people from overseas communities.
On the other hand, the Senate rejected amendments made by several groups, including the centrists, to restore the possibility of producing, not only a negative test, but also proof of vaccination or recovery from Covid.
The case of unvaccinated caregivers is debated
Another subject that has been debated, the question of the reintegration of non-vaccinated caregivers, while the various scientific authorities oscillate between reservations and “firm opposition” in the face of such an eventuality. “We are creating a path towards reintegration,” explained Philippe Bas, for whom “the decision must be medical, it will be”.
According to the rapporteur’s proposal, the vaccination obligation for caregivers will be suspended as soon as the High Authority for Health judges that it is no longer justified, and non-vaccinated caregivers will then be “immediately reinstated”. The minister, who reported 2,605 suspensions in the health sector, deemed the device “balanced”.
For Bernard Jomier (PS), “it is only a political message which is sent and which takes place within the framework of the new balances of our assemblies”. Among LR senators, Alain Milon opposed this provision, fearing that it would create “a precedent” for other vaccination obligations. Alain Houpert on the contrary called on the minister “to release our caregivers, our police forces, our firefighters”.
The senators also explicitly provided in the text for the repeal of regimes allowing the introduction of restrictions on freedoms, such as confinement, curfew or health passes. saying,” commented the minister. Finally, the text makes it possible to extend the tools for monitoring the SI-DEP and Contact Covid epidemic.