By announcing on Monday limitations for gatherings - 2,000 people maximum indoors and 5,000 outdoors - Prime Minister Jean Castex recalled that the French Constitution did not allow the setting of gauges, nor the imposition of a health pass, for political meetings and at places of worship.

This "raised, and I understand it, a fairly strong wave of protest", agreed the Minister of Health Olivier Véran Wednesday at the National Assembly.

But, he added, "I repeat that there is no will of the government to do double standards".

No big concerts but meetings that are sometimes just as full: the prospect has ulcerated the artists.

Some have joked by declaring themselves candidates for the election in order to be able to maintain their "meetings".

Faced with the beginning of controversy, the presidential party LREM hastened to announce that it was going well, in a "spirit of responsibility", to apply the gauges in its future meetings.

On Wednesday, Mr. Véran also declared himself "in favor", but "with uncertainty about the legal aspect", to an amendment by deputy LR Guillaume Larrivé giving the possibility to the organizers of large political rallies to require a vaccination pass and to fix a gauge.

What will not do several contenders for the Elysee.

"We are not going to change anything in our agenda for the next four months and we will hold meetings of all sizes," Olivier Ubéda, national director of events for far-right candidate Eric Zemmour (Reconquest!), Told AFP.

The far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, December 9, 2021 during a televised debate Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP / Archives

"The Constitutional Council was very clear on this: compulsory mask and recommended health pass. (...) Then, each candidate does as he wants," he recalls.

"The more people, the better"

"The more people there are, the better it will be" on the electoral plan, adds Mr. Ubéda, who underlines that "not a cluster was detected following the Villepinte meeting" which had gathered 13,000 people on December 5.

The National Rally will follow this line by refusing government gauges.

"The question does not arise", evacuated Wednesday on Europe 1 the deputy and spokesperson for RN Sébastien Chenu.

"This does not prevent taking a number of measures" such as barrier gestures or social distancing, he nevertheless specified while Marine Le Pen must officially launch her campaign on January 15 and 16 with a "presidential convention "in Reims (Marne).

"It would be problematic to establish a gauge" for the meetings of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, abounded on RMC the LFI deputy Éric Coquerel, announcing that the rebellious candidate, who is to hold a meeting on January 16 at the Beaujoire exhibition park in Nantes, would not apply the government's “liberticidal measures”.

The LFI candidate for the French presidential election Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the headquarters of his movement in Paris, November 8, 2021 Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP / Archives

On the right, Valérie Pécresse wishes to find "the right balance between democratic requirements and health constraints", indicates to AFP Geoffroy Didier, director of communication for candidate LR.

On December 11, a few days after her inauguration, Ms. Pécresse had canceled a large public meeting at the Porte de Versailles in favor of a more modest gathering, bringing together only the executives of the Republicans at the Mutualité, in Paris.

"We have always respected the sanitary rules and will continue to do so", adds Mr. Didier while recalling however that "the crisis should not put the debate under cover during the presidential election".

A position also held by Anne Hidalgo.

The PS candidate, who was already asking for the health pass in her previous meetings, will follow "the recommendations of the government" and await "the evolution of the pandemic", according to a close source.

For their part, environmentalists claim to have planned "smaller events, outdoors, rather in reduced gauges or in digital formats", explained Wednesday on RTL Marine Tondelier, spokesperson for EELV candidate Yannick Jadot.

Anne Hidalgo at a press conference in Paris, December 17, 2021 JULIEN DE ROSA AFP / Archives

The candidate "envisaged" Christiane Taubira finally wants to be "irreproachable", according to a source close to AFP, excluding to hold public meetings indoors before at least "mid-January".

© 2021 AFP