French President Emmanuel Macron’s words, “I really want to disturb those who have not been vaccinated, and I will go to the end. This is our strategy”, using slang words for the French who are not vaccinated in the country, creating polemics in the country. Macron’s backlash overshadowed the National Assembly session that discussed the vaccine certificate law. After the opposition’s harsh reaction to these words, the talks were suspended.
In France, against the Omicron variant, the government brought the “Vaccination certificate bill” to the Parliament’s agenda, which bans non-vaccinated people from entering public places such as bars, restaurants, cinemas and theaters, in order to strengthen the means of managing the health crisis and to persuade the anti-vaccines. . On the first day of the negotiations on the law, the meeting with the opposition votes, which was in the minority, was suspended when the ruling deputies were not present in the hall in sufficient numbers at midnight. The government insisted on the law and brought the bill to the agenda of the General Assembly on the second day. However, this time, tensions rose again in the General Assembly due to an interview given by President Emmanuel Macron to Le Parisien newspaper.
In the interview, Macron also used slang words and stated that “Those who are not vaccinated are irresponsible, and those who are irresponsible cannot be citizens”, saying, “I want to offend those who are not vaccinated. I will go to the end. This is our strategy”. opened.
Voices were frequently raised at the General Assembly, which witnessed the most controversial meetings of recent years, and criticism rained down on the government from the opposition. Christian Jacob, leader of the main opposition Republicans (LR), said: “You either make the vaccine mandatory, then everybody has to comply or it’s not mandatory, which means everybody has a choice. In that case, a President can’t pass legislation to piss off the French. We all think differently about the certificate of vaccination. I advocate the certificate of vaccination. But I cannot say yes to a text that was only brought in to piss off the French. Minister, is this what the President of the Republic, you, your request? Yes or no! We have to get an answer to that. Unless we get that answer “We can’t continue this session,” he said.
“Institutionalized provocation”
LR Deputy Philippe Gosselin objected, “The guarantor of the unity of the nation cannot make such statements. It does not suit the office of the President. This is an institutionalized provocation.” Fabien Roussel, Chairman of the Communist Party and presidential candidate, said, “What is the purpose of the government. Did he introduce this law to anger the French even more? Let the Prime Minister come and make a statement”, while the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) deputy Mathilde Panot said, “A President, “While the negotiations on the law are continuing, he says he wants to anger the French, that those who are not vaccinated cannot be considered citizens. You are the one who considers some of them as citizens and divides them. You are creating the chaos here. We cannot continue under these conditions. We want this session to be suspended immediately,” he said.
When Health Minister Olivier Veran, who came to the podium to make a statement, took the microphone, angry opposition lawmakers in the General Assembly protested the minister by banging on the benches. Then, when the clocks approached 02:00 after midnight, the talks were suspended for the second time.
Opposition ‘divide unite’ call
Although he has not officially announced yet, Macron’s words, who are preparing to become a presidential candidate in the elections to be held in April, overshadowed the discussions in the Parliament. In a special interview with TF1 Television about 2 weeks ago, Macron expressed his regret for upsetting the French, who often consider him “arrogant, arrogant, and a leader who underestimates the people”. You will not hear such hurtful words.”
In his address to the nation on the occasion of the New Year, Macron called on the French to “be in unity and solidarity”. However, only 4 days after this speech, the reaction was not delayed when 5 million unvaccinated people said that “they cannot be considered irresponsible and real citizens” and expressed this in slang words.
There were harsh reactions from presidential candidates far-right Eric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen and right-wing candidate Valerie Pecresse. Candidates recalled that the president is “the President of all French”, accusing Macron of dividing the French. Some candidates stated that the President deliberately and calculated these words that divided the French, and that “he acted more like a candidate than the President”. The anti-vaccine protesters, who reacted intensely to Macron on social media, called for a demonstration to protest Macron on Saturday.
The number of cases is advancing to 300 thousand
With the previously applied vaccination certificate, the French government allowed the entry of those who have been vaccinated, as well as those who have recovered from the COVID-19 virus and those who have tested negative, to enter public spaces. However, as the Omicron variant infects up to 300,000 people every day in the country, a new law requires that, as of January 15, the vaccination certificate be “limited to those with 3 doses of vaccine”.
While French Minister of Health Olivier Veran announced that they are entering a new era in which nearly 300 thousand cases will be detected every day, the French National Health Agency announced that 271,000 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours. This is the highest figure recorded since the beginning of the epidemic.
5 million people still resist vaccination in France. Despite the fact that the vaccination rate has reached 91 percent, the fact that nearly 300 thousand new cases are registered every day brings the “reliability of the vaccine and the application of the vaccination certificate” into question.
Within a week, in the country where 8 million COVID-19 tests were carried out, 271 thousand 686 cases were detected in the last 24 hours, and 293 people died due to the epidemic. Currently, 20,186 patients are being treated for COVID-19 in the hospital, of which 3,665 are in intensive care.
Since the beginning of the epidemic in France, 97 thousand 424 people have died, and more than 1 million people have been infected with the virus.