Emmanuel Macron said on Friday to “fully” assume his controversial remarks on Tuesday on the unvaccinated, which he said he wanted to “piss off”, accusing some of them of making “their freedom, which becomes irresponsibility, a slogan”.
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“One can be moved by forms of expression which seem familiar which I fully assume”, declared the President of the Republic during a press conference at the Elysee with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
“I am moved by the situation in which we are, the real divide of the country is there, when some make their freedom, which becomes an irresponsibility, a slogan”, he denounced.
“Not only do they endanger the lives of others, but they restrict the freedom of others and that I cannot accept,” he insisted.
“And I cannot allow debates to flourish in our country which would consist of saying: ‘let’s not treat them by our choices’. No. And I also said it very clearly, ”added the Head of State, returning to the context of the interview with Le Parisien, where he was responding to two caregivers angry with the unvaccinated.
Also assuming his “strategy which is simple: vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate”, Emmanuel Macron explained that “it is a completely European movement which places restrictions on people who are not vaccinated”.
“I say it with a lot of will and force: we must do it for all of our compatriots who make the effort to be vaccinated and who, through the irresponsibility of certain others who, sometimes by making choices, are contaminated, ”he argued.
“And we must do it also for our compatriots who sometimes allow themselves to be taken by obscurantist speeches, by speeches of fear: they do not protect themselves while science, research and European technological and productive excellence are theirs. allow, ”he added.
“It was my responsibility to sound the alarm a little, that’s what I did this week, so that things can move forward even more quickly,” concluded the Head of State.
Supporting the French Head of State, Ursula Von Der Leyen considered that “the vaccination pass is an instrument to protect the vaccinated”. For her, “this discussion of responsibility and freedom is very important in our society during a pandemic”.
Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday: “The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do so, until the end. This is the strategy ”. His words sparked a political storm in the midst of a first reading examination in the National Assembly of the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, adopted in pain on Thursday.