It’s as if history has been repeating itself over and over again for two years. Monday December 27, 7:15 p.m., it’s a cold shower for the cultural and sporting world. “To curb Omicron, large gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 2,000 people indoors, and 5,000 people maximum outdoors “, announced Prime Minister Jean Castex, in front of the press and at the end of a Council of Ministers dedicated to the fight against the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic linked to the Omicron variant.
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From Monday January 3, 2022 and for a period of at least three weeks, all the organizers of major cultural and sporting events in France will therefore have to comply with these new rules. These measures, which are very difficult to digest for the artistic and sporting world, do not apply, however, to political meetings. “Political and electoral activities are subject to specific provisions in our constitutional law, which provide them with stronger protection.“, justified the head of government at the same press conference. But the pill is struggling to pass, especially in the cultural world.
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On the side of the presidential candidates, opinions diverge. If, on the left, the socialist Anne Hidalgo was already asking for health passes and the wearing of masks in his meetings and if the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot announced that he would now only small gatherings to avoid risks, on the right, at Valérie Pécresse, there are two schools. Some of her supporters call for responsibility while others hope that the LR candidate will maintain her meetings. On the far right, Eric Zemmour has decided not to change anything. He wants to continue to organize his major political meetings, as in Villepinte at the beginning of December, with recommended health passes and masks. Just like Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who have already announced their next major meetings.
An unjust decision disconnected from realities or a necessary condition for the proper functioning of democracy within four months of the presidential election? Franceinfo explains why political meetings are the exception.
Because political and electoral activities are protected by the Constitution
The presidential election of April 10 and 24, 2022 is in everyone’s mind and Jean Castex seemed aware, during his press conference on Monday, that the subject of the gauges for the next political meetings of the candidates would come back to the table. “The exercise of worship on the one hand and political and electoral activities on the other hand are subject to specific provisions in our constitutional law. which give them even stronger protection “, explained the Prime Minister.
To justify not limiting the gauges to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 people outdoors in political meetings, the head of government is based on article 58 of the Constitution. “The Constitutional Council ensures the regularity of the election of the President of the Republic. He examines the complaints and announces the results of the ballot “, can we read on the Wise Men website.
Because three legal measures have been taken since the start of the pandemic
From May 2020, the Constitutional Council decided to exempt the organizers of political meetings from the obligation to present a health pass by all of their participants. This case law establishes “that the organization of meetings cannot be affected by the health emergency law”. An exemption then confirmed on August 5, 2021 and in the bill of health vigilance of November 9, recalling that “The polling stations, meetings and political activities proceed from the freedom of assembly, which is a fundamental freedom guaranteed by the Constitution”.
It is therefore in the name of “the exercise of democracy”, in the words of Jean Castex, that “this fundamental activity” is not subject to the same restrictions as all other major public events in France. “The participation of all citizens in the political life of the Nation is one of the founding principles of our Republic”, also wrote the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin to the political parties last September, recalls The JDD.
Because it is forbidden to refuse entry to a meeting to a participant
Require a health pass at the entrance of a theater or a cinema, the law requires. Asking the same for a public meeting is recommended but not at all required. “Lpresentation of the health pass cannot be required for access to polling stations or to political meetings and activities“, recalls the Constitutional Council. It is therefore impossible, for the organizers of political meetings, to fail a participant for this reason.
If he wishes, the latter even has the possibility of taking legal action against the candidate who would demand, as conditions of access to his meeting, a complete vaccination schedule, a negative test or a certificate of recovery from the disease. A behavior punishable by one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Because there is no specific legislation (yet) for political meetings in times of pandemic
If a committee is due to meet soon around the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin “to agree with all the political forces on rules that are obviously protective in relation to the health situation but which take into account the specificity of this activity “, according to Jean Castex, can a law subject entry to a political rally to the same conditions as those requested in a cultural or sporting place? Yes, under certain conditions, responds in The JDD Jean-Philippe Derosier, professor of public law at the University of Lille. “The judges never considered that the requirement of a sanitary pass to enter certain places open to the public was contrary to the Constitution”, he explains.
In other words, if the increase in the number of Covid-19 contaminations continues and if hospitals are therefore saturated, the legislator could consider that imposing the health pass in political meetings is a matter of public health. If it will be impossible to require it at the polling stations no matter what, a valid pass could then, in the event of new legislation, be requested as part of the “meetings in closed places, accommodating a large number of people or in areas marked by a very active circulation of the virus”, projects Jean-Philippe Derosier.