FRANCE: COVID ‘HEALTH PASS’ LARGELY COMPLIES WITH CONSTITUTION, TOP COURT SAYS

Thu 05 August 2021:

France’s Constitutional Court said that it had supported the expansion of the use of the sanitary pass, which requires a coronavirus vaccination or a negative coronavirus test while visiting cafes and shopping malls.

“A few tens of thousands of people have lost their minds to such an extent that they are capable of saying we live in a dictatorship,” Macron told Paris Match in an interview published on Wednesday.

It was irresponsible and selfish not to get vaccinated, the president has said, pointing to the renewed pressure on the healthcare system.

“In recognizing the constitutional provisions on the health pass, the Constitutional Council condemned the provisions of the law relating to the management of the health crisis, the early termination of certain employment contracts and mandatory self-isolation, which it considers contrary to the Constitution,” the court said in a statement.

The controversial pass, which will become ubiquitous from Monday, has sparked mass protests, with critics accusing President Emmanuel Macron of running a health “dictatorship”.

The biggest change concerns restaurants which will now have to turn away patrons who fail to produce the health pass.

Visitors to some shopping centres and department stores will also need the pass, as will visitors to hospitals or care homes and people seeking non-urgent medical care.

But the absence of a health pass must not be an obstacle to patients receiving treatment, the court ruled.

The majority of French people approve of the health pass requirements, an Elabe survey showed.

The approval of the Constitutional Council means that the health pass will come into effect from August 9.

On July 12, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a series of new restrictive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. In particular, he announced the expansion of sanitary passes use to bars, restaurants, long-distance trains and airplanes.

Also, Macron announced the introduction of compulsory vaccination for physicians in France and all workers in hospitals and nursing homes. Following the statements of the French president, a corresponding bill was prepared, and on Sunday it was adopted by the French parliament.

From July 21, a sanitary pass, indicating either vaccination, or a negative test for COVID-19, or transfer of the disease, is already needed in museums, theaters, cinemas, festivals, amusement parks, as well as at all cultural events with more than 50 people.

Protests against the health pass assembled around 200,000 people across France on Saturday, and organisers have called for more demonstrations this weekend.

According to a Montaigne opinion poll this week, 37 percent of French people sympathise with the demonstrations and 48 percent are against.

Some 60 percent approve mandatory vaccinations.

The Constitutional Council is the French constitutional review body that determines the conformity of laws to the constitution. It consists of 9 people who are appointed for 9 years. The council can pass judgment on the unconstitutionality of the draft law, but cannot overturn the current law.

It also has no right to check the constitutionality of laws on his own initiative. At the same time, the law cannot be signed by the president without the approval of the Constitutional Council.

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