“We suspend!” It was a little after midnight when the Vice-President of the National Assembly, Annie Genevard (LR), announced, on the night of Monday 3 to Tuesday 4 January, the suspension of the session on the examination of the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass. Under cries of satisfaction from the opposition, the deputies have just rejected in a vote by show of hands the request for an extension of the debates beyond midnight formulated by the government.
“We did not jump for joy when it was suspended, moreover we did not expect it at all”, tells franceinfo deputy LR Eric Diard, who expected to sit until the end of the night. “But we voted to suspend it because it was midnight and remained 500 amendments … ” If the consequences of this vote should remain limited – discussions resumed late Tuesday afternoon – the episode allowed La République en Marche and the Republicans to settle their scores, against the backdrop of the presidential campaign.
Those in charge of the majority are trying to blame the attitude of the right-wing deputies for this hiccup of the meeting, recalling that the candidate Valérie Pécresse declared herself in favor of the health pass. “Either Madame Pécresse does not hold her troops, or, and it is even more serious, it is called duplicity, you say things on TV and in the hemicycle you do something else”, lambasted Amélie de Montchalin, Minister of Transformation and Public Service, on BFMTV.
“It’s called duplicity, it’s irresponsible.”
Amélie de Montchalin, Minister of Transformation and Public Serviceon BFMTV
“LR is no longer a government party and the snub, it is the right-wing deputies who have inflicted it on all Covid patients”, completed on franceinfo Patrick Mignola, the boss of the MoDem group at the Assembly. “We saw last night a form of friendship of irresponsibility being formed with the deputies of La France insoumise, the National Rassemblement and the LR deputies to take a procedural step, to try to derail the schedule for the adoption of the vaccine pass “, was also annoyed the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal, on France Inter.
Beyond the postponement of the discussion, the majority also denounces the vote of LR deputies in favor of an amendment aimed at deleting article 1 of the bill, the one which contains the transformation of the health pass into a vaccination pass. “The vote on an amendment does not prejudge the vote on the text, tempers LR Eric Diard. It is a rant amendment, in a bad mood … The group is focused on the attitude of the Minister of Health, who tends to annoy us. “
“Some people think they will abstain or vote against it, because of Olivier Véran’s arrogance.”
Eric Diard, LR deputyto franceinfo
Depicted as ambiguous and divided on this text, the right was found this Tuesday around Valérie Pécresse, who presented her campaign HQ and its organization chart to the press. With all the LR trends gathered for the family photo, starting with the former opponents of the primary winner. “There have always been different positions within LR, but the group is living well”, assures Eric Diard. “Everyone agrees on the vaccination, there is no anti-tax for Republicans, but there is disagreement on how”, explains the deputy Julien Aubert, very critical of the bill. According to him, LR shoots “his strength” of this large gathering between a Macron-compatible right and a right closer to the ideas of Eric Zemmour.
“Today we have a large gathering of sensibilities around me, and there is no political family where everyone thinks the same thing”, decided Valérie Pécresse from her new HQ. She nevertheless assured that the position of the LR group was not to oppose the text, in the Assembly as in the Senate, “because we are a responsible party”.
Throughout the session at the Palais Bourbon on Monday evening, the LR deputies had not however held back their blows against the government text, with many amendments tabled. In a difficult balancing act, the right will have to try to make its criticisms heard, while keeping the line of responsibility decreed by the candidate. “This vaccination pass is a tool for managing the health crisis, but the government has made it a political trap. If you vote against the text, you appear be against vaccination … “ regret the deputy LR Julien Dive, a close friend of Xavier Bertrand.
To avoid falling into this “trap”, Christian Jacob, the president of the Republicans, went to the National Assembly at around 10:30 p.m. on Monday evening to convince a few recalcitrant parliamentarians not to oppose the text. “I saw him take deputies aside to convince them. Without the work of Christian Jacob and Damien Abad [le président du groupe LR], you would have a majority of votes against the text “, confides an LR deputy. “In the end, I think the delta between the pros and cons is quite thin”, says Julien Dive. The vote of the LR group in the Assembly on the text will therefore be scrutinized.
In an attempt to hide its divisions, the right does not forget to retaliate by pointing the finger at the absenteeism of the majority during the postponement voted on Monday evening. Valérie Pécresse thus evokes “the government’s unpreparedness”, Who “does not manage to hold its majority “. “We did not expect such amateurism on their part. At the time of the vote, there were about twenty deputies at the refreshment bar”, laughs Eric Diard. “They hit us just because they got the balls, because they were bad, Julien Dive also retorts. They were at the bar, in their bed or doing interviews… “