“A president shouldn’t say that.” Pascal Brindeau (UDI) used the words of François Hollande to describe his anger, in the hemicycle of the National Assembly, on the night of Tuesday 4 to Wednesday 5 January. A little earlier in the evening, an alert from the Parisian vibrated cell phones during the suspension of the session devoted to the examination of the vaccine pass project. In an interview with readers of the daily, Emmanuel Macron describes his “strategy” vaccine. “The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so, we will continue to do it, until the end. That’s the strategy”, he claims.
This exit explodes the session. Since 6 p.m., the debates began in a peaceful atmosphere, with the almost unanimous adoption (386 votes to 2) of a pass exemption for 12-16 year olds in the context of extracurricular activities. The ace. The declaration of the Head of State sets fire to the powders in a hemicycle heated to white by the first debates on the vaccine pass, the day before.
On resumption, it’s thunder. The representatives of the opposition follow one another on the platform to castigate the exit of the Head of State. That the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, come and explain to the deputies “the real agenda and the intentions of the government”, claims the PCF candidate, Fabien Roussel. “I cannot support a text which aims to piss off the French”exclaims Christian Jacob, President of the Republicans, yet in favor of the vaccination pass. “A President of the Republic does not have to piss off the French. He can eventually convince them, coerce them, but not piss them off”, continues the socialist David Dhabib.
Words of Emmanuel Macron in Le Parisien: “A President of the Republic does not have to piss off the French. He can possibly convince them, coerce them, but not piss them off,” assures us @DavidDhabib (PS).#PassVaccinal #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/y5kuM7mA14
– LCP (@LCP) January 4, 2022
Several points of order were raised, as were requests for suspension. “The words of the President of the Republic dishonor his office and our Assembly”, continues the deputy Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. “How can we sit with dignity when the President of the Republic despises the French, divides them, uses the strategy of the scapegoat?” He was interrupted by the chairman of the session Marc Le Fur, who imposed a call to order on a deputy seen filming the debates. “This is unacceptable, you will create havoc in this house!”
Olivier Véran, questioned by the socialist deputy Valérie Rabault, then tries to minimize the president’s remarks. “If you read in detail the intervention of the President of the Republic in his interview with Parisian which comes out tomorrow, you will see that the intention is above all an intention to protect the population “, declares the Minister of Health, under the jeers. In this deafening hubbub, the LR chairman of the meeting, Marc Le Fur, suspended the proceedings for ten minutes. But the interruption continued for an hour and a half because the representatives of the groups demanded the arrival of the Prime Minister.
“Where is Castex? Where is Castex?” Some elected Republicans are showing their impatience, emphasizes The world. According to the daily, the Minister of National Participation, Marc Fresneau, multiplies the comings and goings with neighboring salons looking for a way to unblock the debates. “We proposed a way out: you bring in the Prime Minister, that brings down the tension, then we debate for two to three hours”, details Damien Abad at Parisian. In vain.
On resumption, the atmosphere is electric. There is no longer any question of the substance of the bill. Too bad if there are still 400 amendments to go through. The president of the Les Républicains group, Damien Abad, again calls for the presence of Jean Castex. Mathilde Panot, her counterpart at La France insoumise, denounces a text which “invented forfeiture of citizenship”. A reference also to other words of Emmanuel Macron in The Parisian, about “antivax” : “When my freedom threatens the freedom of others, I become irresponsible. An irresponsible person is no longer a citizen.”
An altercation broke out in the hemicycle, according to Europe 1, when the LREM deputy François Cormier-Bouligeon rushed towards the elected LFI Alexis Corbière. Bailiffs must separate the two men before the situation escalates further.
“Everyone will agree that the conditions for peaceful work are not met”, decides the chairman of the session before announcing the end of the debates, around 2 o’clock in the morning. This is the second suspension in two evenings. Work should resume at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, but it is not certain that the night allowed all tensions to ease. The date of entry into force of the vaccination pass, scheduled for January 15, seems increasingly difficult to keep.