Will the health emergency be extended again? Prime Minister Jean Castex is to present a draft bill related to the managing of the health crisis exit this Wednesday April 28, 2021 at the end of the latest Ministerial Council.
Instated in March 2020, the health emergency is on until June 1. Remember, this past January, the National Assembly approved its extension to June 1, 2021 with 113 votes for, and 43 against. A text is being prepared to put an end to some restrictions implemented in the country such as lockdown and curfew while sparing the possibility to call for new curbing measures (compulsory facemask-wearing in some places...).
We must say that the extension of the health emergency was not agreed on everyone. Elected representatives from the right and the left have protested when Olivier Véran once again asked them to extend the health emergency, taking some power away from the Parliament to give it to the executive.
The Health Minister said he understand "weariness and wish to put an end to the crisis, but today, we cannot take no tool to fight the virus away from us." He adds: "the spread of the epidemic is still high and tends to accelerate again. [...] The epidemic is on a tightrope".
Arguments that do only half persuade deputies. Even though the draft bill has been approved, the government is facing rising protests. Socialists even come up with a vote of no confidence that did not end. All parliamentary groups have something to say.
Le Monde reported they were annoyed and sometimes even offensive: "Full powers are enough. We no longer want you to give it all" Ugo Bernalicis said. "You'll remain the minister of test fiascos, mask fiascos and vaccine fiascos" LR Vaucluse deputy Julien Aubert told Health Minister.
As for UDI, Pascal Brindeau - Loir-et-Cher deputy - is bitter: "I think that never under the 5th Republic, has the National Assembly been such shadow theater. In the end, what use are our debates? None." Even amid the majority group, pressure is rising: Haut-Rhin deputy and head of the Agir group - allied of the majority - Olivier Becht reminds that it is unacceptable to "give a blanck check without debatting about the very core of the strategy".
Véran - annoyed by these protests - regrets "a kind of continuous outrage [...] from parlementarians or local elected representatives. [...] I think it is tiring French people".
