Parliament definitively adopted this Tuesday, July 26, by a final vote of the Senate, a bill which explicitly puts an end to the health pass and other exceptional measures against Covid-19 on August 1, but provides for the possibility of a compulsory border test. “This text is a necessary shield in the face of a Covid-19 epidemic which has not yet said its last word”, underlined the Minister of Health François Braun. The first bill validated under the new legislature, this text was voted on for the last time on Monday July 25 by the National Assembly, in its version issued by the Senate and then approved by a joint committee of deputies and senators. It bears the mark of the new parliamentary configuration which forces the government to seek agreements beyond the presidential majority, in particular with Les Républicains, the leading group in the Senate.
“In an unprecedented political situation”, it is “the result of a method” which “responds to two key words: dialogue and compromise without compromise”, affirmed the minister. The Senate approved it by 209 votes against 30. The LR, centrist and RDPI groups with the En Marche majority voted overwhelmingly in favor, as did the RDSE group with the radical majority. But 14 LR senators voted against and 12 abstained, as well as four elected members of the presidential majority. The Communist-majority CRCE group voted against. Ecologists and Socialists abstained, while PS deputies voted for the text.
The bill provides for the express repeal from August 1 of the emergency regimes – state of emergency and management of the health crisis. “In the event of a health crisis in the future, if the government needs exceptional powers, it will have to negotiate them one by one with Parliament,” said LR rapporteur Philippe Bas. The only reservation is that the government may impose, in very specific cases, a negative Covid screening test when boarding in the direction of French territory and for overseas trips.
This travel health certificate could only be activated for international travel in the event of the appearance of a particularly dangerous variant of Covid in a country. Or for trips to overseas communities in the event of a risk of hospital saturation.
“Free field for antivax”
Two points were particularly discussed: the age of application, from 12 years old, and especially the fact that the senators only retained as a valid document the negative screening test. Exit the certificate of vaccination or cure. The centrist Philippe Bonnecarrère deplored that the text no longer includes “any reference to vaccination, which is a way of sending a form of counter-message to our fellow citizens”. “The debate leaves the field open to antivax,” added Véronique Guillotin (RDSE). “I solemnly reaffirm that the vaccine is essential because it reduces the severity of the disease and avoids catching it in certain cases”, declared Philippe Bas, however, in an attempt to cut short the criticisms.
Another very controversial point is the question of the reintegration of unvaccinated caregivers. The Senate has “created a path to the reintegration” of suspended personnel, in the words of its rapporteur. But for the socialist Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie, the device “has been perfectly understood by those who are concerned and by the antivax as being the open door to this reintegration which would be totally shocking”. On the other hand, the president of the CRCE group Eliane Assassi affirmed that “these personnel should be immediately reinstated”. According to the text, the vaccination obligation for caregivers will be suspended as soon as the High Health Authority deems that it is no longer justified, and non-vaccinated caregivers will then be “immediately reinstated”. In any case, it will not be for tomorrow. The HAS took the lead on Friday, saying it was “in favor of maintaining the obligation to vaccinate against (the) Covid-19 for personnel working in health and medico-social establishments”.
Finally, the text makes it possible to extend the tools for monitoring the SI-DEP and Contact Covid epidemic. Philippe Bas wanted the work on this bill to “illustrate a process in which the Senate fully plays its stabilizing role”. Conversely, Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie judged that “the role of Parliament and particularly of the Senate has been lowered”. “There was no compromise, there was no dialogue, or at least with certain groups only in this assembly,” she lamented.