Do MPs have the right to "free masks", as LFI says?

• By deciding not to provide free masks when their use becomes compulsory for students aged 11 and over from September, the government has drawn strong criticism from the opposition.
• Activists or elected LFI, like François Ruffin, point the finger in particular to the fact that the deputies would for their part be entitled to free masks.
• If the National Assembly has ordered many masks to provide them to staff and deputies present on site, the first quaestor Florian Bachelier refutes the notion of "free".

The government has decided: despite the call from many political leaders (including within La République en Marche), middle and high school students will not benefit from free masks against the Covid-19 at the start of the school year, while they will have to be worn by all students over eleven years old.

Unsurprisingly, this decision aroused strong criticism from the opposition, and in particular from the side of La France insoumise (LFI). "You know that this government is completely above ground when you learn that the masks are free for the deputies but not for the schoolchildren", has blasted on Twitter Julie Garnier, "national speaker" and activist of the party.

You know that this government is completely out of the ground when you learn that #masks are free for deputies but not for schoolchildren. # Covid_19

His tweet echoed the one published by the LFI deputy of the Somme François Ruffin a little earlier: “In the Assembly […] for deputies, masks are free…”

"We must return to the notion of taking individual responsibility, defends a minister. We do not pay condoms to everyone, while AIDS also kills!" In the Assembly, however, for the deputies, the masks are free ... https: //t.co/BNWtCI2QWa

This reproach is also formulated by various Internet users, like “En mode Macaron”, a “news account opposed to the power in place”, which cited an article from Ouest-France from May 2020 to deplore that the National Assembly ordered 100,000 "free masks" for deputies.

When we learn that the deputies have free masks ...

"The deconfinement plan provides for health reception points to provide gel and masks, 100,000 having been ordered"

But Macron does not want free masks for the others. . https://t.co/EJeQX8yCWC

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The quaestors of the National Assembly, deputies responsible for the administrative and material aspects of the Palais Bourbon, have indeed, in recent months, carried out several orders for masks.

"We opted for continuity of parliamentary activity even at the height of the epidemic, in particular conditions, says 20 Minutes Florian Bachelier LREM MP Ille-et-Vilaine and first quaestor The national assembly. It was at that time that we made a first order for 300,000 masks, to be able to supply them to the 1,200 officials who work on the site as well as to the deputies and to the deputies' collaborators, while the latter are not employed by the National Assembly but by the deputies. "

On the other hand, he disputes the notion of "free" as presented by elected officials or activists of La France insoumise: "There is nothing free, the National Assembly simply respects the legal obligation to protect its staff. , in the same way as companies which supply masks to their employees. These masks are only supplied to distribution points installed within the National Assembly: in the constituencies, the cost of equipping masks is the responsibility of the deputies and their staff. "

"103 people were affected by Covid-19 on the site of the National Assembly, including 32 deputies, and one of them, Claude Goasguen, died [of a cardiac arrest while recovering from Covid-19]. Coming to argue over an alleged distribution of free masks is not up to the political debate. The deputies and their collaborators are not pupils: we are in a report of obligation of safety of the personnel ”, he continues.

Several orders over the months

In detail, a few weeks before the deconfinement, the quaestors had "authorized the purchase of 20,000 surgical-type protective masks for deputies, collaborators and staff present at the National Assembly, in addition to previous acquisitions", according to the minutes of their April 30 meeting.

On May 14, in the wake of the start of deconfinement, a double order had been made, this time for a stock of 50,000 masks each, or a total of 100,000 “FFP1 type” protective equipment.

A month later, on June 18, the Quaestors authorized the purchase of 50,000 additional masks, before ending up ordering 400,000 at once, on July 23, "to maintain the stock corresponding to 10 weeks of consumption and to make facing needs until the end of 2020 ”, according to the report available on the National Assembly website.

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