There is no deal in sight.

The Senate, dominated by the right-wing opposition, rejected en bloc Thursday, in new reading, the bill of "health vigilance" which opens in particular the possibility of resorting to the health pass until July 31, 2022. The Assembly national must vote Friday a final version of the text in accordance with the wishes of the government.

Senators from the Les Républicains group "will, no doubt in the next few hours, file an appeal with the Constitutional Council", Stéphane Le Rudulier (LR) has already announced.

Appeals are also provided by LR and left deputies.

"The president avoids a debate during the campaign"

The High Assembly voted Thursday evening the "preliminary question" presented by the rapporteur LR Philippe Bas, a procedural motion which results in the rejection of a text from the outset, without examining its provisions.

"The obstinacy with which the government refused any dialogue with the Senate, the refusal to accept it opposed to its amendments (...) left us without hope of being able to further develop the text", justified the protractor.

"The Senate does not oppose that the instruments of the fight against the epidemic be extended", but asks "that it be under the control of the Parliament", he underlined.

Behind the “intransigence” of the government, “there is necessarily for us the suspicion that political intentions could have been present”, declared Philippe Bas, referring to the expiry of the presidential election.

"The president avoids a debate during the presidential campaign", added the socialist Jean-Yves Leconte.

The LR, centrist, CRCE with a communist and ecologist majority groups gave their votes to the rejection motion.

The Socialists, although in disagreement with the bill, voted against the motion, to indicate their willingness to continue debating.

“You have to be able to convince,” Leconte insisted.

July 31, a "relevant" choice

At first reading, the Senate opposed the government head-on, limiting the extension of the braking measures against the Covid-19 epidemic to February 28, including the health pass. The senators had also "territorialized" the use of the health pass according to the vaccination rate and the circulation of the virus according to the departments. And they had removed a controversial provision allowing school principals to know the vaccination status of students.

So many major changes on which the National Assembly returned on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, despite the guerrillas led by the oppositions.

On the government bench in the Senate, the Minister in charge of Autonomy Brigitte Bourguignon repeated that the date of July 31 "is a relevant choice".

According to her, the bill will "protect the health of the French by limiting as much as possible the impact of the measures taken on their daily lives".

Politics

Coronavirus: Reduced to February 28 by the Senate, the Assembly restores the July 31 deadline for the health pass

  • Senate

  • Covid 19

  • Health pass

  • Coronavirus