PARIS — The centrist party of French President
Emmanuel Macron was left red-faced on Tuesday after opposition parties joined
forces to hold up a bill tightening measures against COVID-19.
اضافة اعلان
The lower house National Assembly was debating the
implementation of a health pass that will require a full course of vaccination
to attend events, eat out or travel by inter-city train, rather than a recent
negative test or proof of recovery.
But when the government asked the chamber late Monday to
continue debating the legislation after midnight, to ensure it could be adopted
by the end of the week, the right-wing Republicans (LR) teamed up with the
far-right and far-left to stop the debate.
In an embarrassment for Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM)
party that controls parliament, not enough of its lawmakers were still present
in the chamber when the vote by a show of hands was taken on continuing the
debate.
French media said the surprise move by the LR — which has
backed the main thrust of the legislation — pointed to rising political
tensions ahead of April 2022 presidential elections, which Macron appears the
favorite, but is not certain, to win.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal lashed out at a
"procedural coup" by opposition lawmakers, saying they wanted to
"derail the calendar" for the vaccine pass for purely political
reasons.
"We will do everything to stick to the calendar as has
been set out," he told France Inter radio. The government wants the new
legislation to be implemented from January 15.
The debate was due to resume late Tuesday, parliamentary
sources said, with 500 amendments filed by the opposition to be discussed and
lawmakers facing another late night.
'Always an amateur'
The delay underscored the frailties of LREM, an upstart
centrist party that has failed to build up a solid base since Macron's meteoric
rise to the presidency in 2017.
"Once an amateur, always an amateur," commented
Damien Abad, head of the LR faction in the National Assembly, describing the
vote as a "big blow for the ruling party and the government".
Prime Minister Jean Castex told a meeting of LREM lawmakers
that the events of Monday night "did not match the gravity of the
situation" and that the party now needed to be "more united than
ever", according to participants.
After a bitter New Year's debate over a move to fly the
European flag from the Arc de Triomphe monument to mark France's turn at the EU
presidency, Le Monde daily said the episode was a new sign of pre-election
tensions.
"The presidential election campaign appears to have barged
into the debates on health policy," it said.
Valerie Pecresse, the LR candidate considered the main
threat to Macron by analysts, confirmed Tuesday that her party would back the
legislation.
She warned however that it would be modified when it arrives
in the Senate, where the right holds a majority, and criticized a "lack of
preparedness and improvisation of the government in the face of the
crisis".
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