As debate heats up in the lead-up to French presidential polls in April, Emmanuel Macron has bluntly said he really wants to “piss off” unvaccinated people as part of the government’s Covid strategy to force people to get jabbed.
Macron's comments, given late Tuesday during an interview with the Le Parisien daily, come after a “vaccine pass” bill was suspended in parliament, much to the delight of rightwing opposition parties.
"I'm not one for annoying the French,” he said. “But right now, the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off … and so we’re going to continue doing so until the end. This is the strategy.”
Angry reaction to his comments – part of a two-hour interview that also covered security and climate and other issues – saw debate on the contentious bill suspended for a second night in a row.
“These are unworthy, contemptuous remarks and we can not work in such conditions,” Gabriel Abad, from the rightwing Les Republicans party, told the National Assembly.
Rule-tightening
If passed, the proposed law will mean that from next month only fully vaccinated people – and not just those with a negative Covid test – will be eligible for a health pass.
In the form of a QR code, the pass allows the French to access public venues such as restaurants and cinemas, and to travel.
The government has long made clear that vaccination is its No.1 strategy for navigating France through the pandemic, which has claimed more than 124,000 lives in the country.
“We need to tell them (the unvaccinated), that from 15 January, you won't be able to go to restaurants anymore, you won't be able to have a drink, have a coffee, or go to the theatre,” Macron told the paper.
Campaign mode
Opponents accuse Macron of electioneering in his first interview of the year four months out from political polls – despite not yet having declared himself a candidate.
He did, however, tell Le Parisien that he would "like to run for president". His officially candidacy is expected some time in February.
Meanwhile Christophe Castaner, who heads Macron’s La République en Marche party in the assembly, told France Info the president was “speaking frankly”, adding “the French need this frankness”.
There is also some history to Macron's colourful expression. Back in 1966, then president Georges Pompidou told young political aide Jacques Chirac to “stop pissing off the French” by bringing him too many bills and decrees to sign.
“It's killing us. Let them live a bit and you will see that everything will be better.”
