Here is a short presidential sentence which is already causing a lot of reaction, in the midst of a debate on the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass. “Lare unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do it, until the end “, declares Emmanuel Macron in an interview with Parisian and to its readers, published Tuesday, January 4.
The Head of State was responding to a question from a reader of Parisian stressing that the unvaccinated “85% occupy resuscitations”, resulting in postponement of operations. This remark “is the best argument” for the government’s strategy, notes the president, stressing that“in a democracy, the worst enemy is lies and stupidity”.
“Almost all of the people, over 90%, have joined” vaccination and “it is a very small minority which is refractory”, he adds. “That one, how do we reduce it? We reduce it, sorry to say it, like that, by pissing him off even more. Me, I’m not for pissing off the French”, he adds, paraphrasing the famous sentence of his predecessor Georges Pompidou – “So stop pissing off the French” -. “I plague the administration all day long when it blocks them, emphasizes Emmanuel Macron. Well there, the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. “
“That’s the strategy. I am not going to put them in prison, I am not going to vaccinate them by force. And so, we must tell them: from January 15, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant. You will no longer be able to take a cannon, you will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theater, you will no longer be able to go to the movies… “, continues the head of state.
The LFI presidential candidate and deputy Jean-Luc Mélenchon was one of the first officials to react to these comments. “Does the President control what he says? WHO says ‘convince rather than coerce’. And him? ‘Piss off more’. Appalling.”, he denounces in a tweet.
Astonishing confession of #Macron. It is clear the #PassVaccinal is a collective punishment against individual freedom. pic.twitter.com/7R0OnbFiDw
– Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) January 4, 2022
“We find a candidate in the process of radicalization. The problem is that we still have several months under his presidency and he is very worrying in his management of the epidemic crisis”, leaned on francenfo Éric Coquerel, LFI deputy for the 1st district of Seine-Saint-Denis. Fabien Roussel, deputy and candidate of the Communist Party for the presidential election, is also indignant. “Seven million French people live in medical deserts and are far from healthcare, such as vaccines. Does he ‘fuck’ them too? “, he wrote on Twitter.
Unworthy and irresponsible remark of the President of the Republic!
When we have to convince, bring together, we do not insult!7 million French people live in medical deserts and are far from care, such as vaccines. Does he “fuck” them too? https://t.co/ZqWWKFB7wE
– Fabien Roussel (@Fabien_Roussel) January 4, 2022
For Marine Le Pen, the RN candidate, “A President should not say that. The guarantor of the unity of the nation persists in dividing it and assumes wanting to make non-vaccinated second-class citizens. Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office”.
“President, I will stop pissing off the French. The outgoing President speaks openly of pissing off a category of French”, also immediately tweeted the other far-right candidate Eric Zemmour.
At LR, Bruno Retailleau felt that no “Health emergency does not justify such words. Emmanuel Macron says he has learned to love the French, he especially likes to despise them. We can encourage vaccination without insulting anyone or pushing for radicalization”, he said. “Emmanuel Macron plays with fire”, reacts for his part Stéphane Troussel, PS president of the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council, interviewed on franceinfo.
François Kalfon, member of the national office of the PS, tweets for his part that after “the refractory Gauls, people who are nothing, yellow vests, Emmanuel Macron now wants to ‘piss off the unvaccinated’. A statesman gathers his people … He spends his time opposing them! #pathological”. The PS mayor of Paris and presidential candidate, Anne Hidalgo, contented herself with a short ironic message on Twitter: “Reunite France.”
Bring France together https://t.co/LVvqdKJ7pF
– Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) January 4, 2022