Macron’s remarks came as
the French parliament debated new legislation that, if passed, will mean only the fully vaccinated – and no longer those with a negative Covid test – will qualify for the country’s health pass from next month.
The pass, introduced this summer, is required in
France for access to indoor public places such as cafes, restaurants, cinemas, museums, concert venues and sports centres, as well as to board long-distance trains and planes.
“In a democracy, the worst enemies are lies and stupidity,” Macron said. “We are putting pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life.”
France has vaccinated almost 90% of its population who are eligible, Macron said, and it was “only a very small minority who are resisting. How do we reduce that minority? We reduce it – sorry for the expression – by pissing them off even more.”
The president, who said he wanted to run for a second term in presidential elections in April but would not make his decision public until “the health situation allows”, added that he was “not going to jail [the unvaccinated], or forcibly vaccinate them.”
So, he said, “we have to tell them: from 15 January, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant. You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theatre. You will no longer be able to go to the cinema.”
Macron added: “When my freedoms threaten those of others, I become someone irresponsible. Someone irresponsible is not a citizen.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ovid-strategy-is-to-piss-off-the-unvaccinated
