Paris (AFP)

The wave of the epidemic is rising and the executive is preparing restrictions for the French for "a long and difficult period", perhaps until spring: the National Assembly debates on Saturday fiercely on the extension of the state of health emergency, an exceptional regime.

At the end of the morning, the deputies, all masked, voted by show of hands on article 1 of the bill which extends until February 16 the application of the health emergency.

It may, however, be lifted in advance in the event of an improvement in the situation.

But the outlook is bleak: the toll will "grow heavier in the coming days and weeks, whatever we do", due to the dynamics of the coronavirus, said the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.

He wished for "national union" - difficult to achieve in the hemicycle.

The government has just extended the curfew to 54 departments and Polynesia, or 46 million French people concerned.

If the epidemic is not contained, we will have to "consider much harsher measures", Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday, before Emmanuel Macron judged Friday that it was "too early to say whether we are going towards local or wider re-containments ".

To apply this panel of provisions, the executive is based on the state of emergency, reestablished by decree for a week on the whole of the territory.

However, beyond one month, its extension must be authorized by law.

Hence this text which still provides for possible restrictions until April 1, out of the emergency.

The period includes regional and departmental elections, a sensitive subject.

Opposed to a "state of emergency which trivializes attacks on freedoms", the LR group unsuccessfully defended a motion for the prior rejection of the bill.

Why now this "atomic weapon" of the state of health emergency, asked Philippe Gosselin on behalf of the right.

Is the objective "generalized containment"?

"Say it! We must not infantilize national representation and even less our fellow citizens," he demanded.

- "Confining our freedoms" -

The left of the left came in support, Danièle Obono (LFI) accusing the government of preferring to “confine our freedoms”, after months of “doodling policy” on the masks or the beds available.

"So what has the government anticipated in six months?", Also questioned Sébastien Chenu (RN).

And Mr. Véran retort: ​​"the house is on fire but we will first discuss the color of the Canadair"?

He urged the oppositions "what are (their) proposals".

Most political groups support the need to be able to act, but refuse to give a "blank check".

The emergency exit regime after February was particularly contested in the afternoon by the right and the left, who saw it as a new "blank check" to the government.

Even within the majority, questions emerge, such as at Agir where Christophe Euzet recalled the crest line of "the social acceptability of the measures taken".

Mr. Véran recognized the difficulty of "renouncements" over "the duration".

Socialists have sought unsuccessfully to impose an exception to the curfew for the particularly affected culture sector or to maintain the freedom to demonstrate under a state of emergency.

The meeting was punctuated by peaks of tension, especially when Martine Wonner (Liberties and Territories) compared the epidemic to "a huge flu" - words of "total seriousness" according to the minister.

The bill also reflects the “test, trace, isolate” strategy, according to rapporteur Jean-Pierre Pont (LREM), with the extension until April 1 of digital systems for collecting test results and contact persons.

Finally, the text should allow the government to be very broadly empowered to sign ordinances in the areas of labor law, the functioning of administrations and even communities, as last spring.

In committee, however, MEPs reduced the authorization period.

In an interview with Le Monde on Saturday, the president of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights underlines the "concentration of power in the hands of the executive": "in peacetime, the Republic has never known such restriction of freedoms ".

Thus "the state of emergency distills a form of democratic poison", warns Jean-Marie Burguburu.

The bill will be on the menu of the Senate from Wednesday and should be definitively adopted in early November.

© 2020 AFP