French President Emmanuel Macron stresses that he "absolutely means" the statements he made on Tuesday about the unvaccinated, saying that he wants to "corner them, make life difficult for them", criticising some of them for making "their freedom, which becomes irresponsibility, a slogan". And he added that it was his responsibility to sound the alarm about the Omicron threat.
"We can be indignant with colloquial figures of speech and which I absolutely mean," Emmanuel Macron said during a press conference at the Elysée Palace with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. He added: "I resent the situation we are in, the real crack in the country is there when some people make their freedom, which becomes irresponsibility, a slogan."
"And I cannot allow debates to flourish in our country of the kind of let's not treat them because of their choices."[/I]
"And I cannot allow debates to flourish in our country of the kind let's not treat them because of their choices. No. And I state this clearly," he said, referring to the debate in Le Parisien newspaper, where he was responding to two nurses angry about the unvaccinated.
He summed up by saying that "his strategy is simple: vaccination, vaccination, vaccination" and stressed that imposing restrictions on the unvaccinated is a European trend. "I say this with great determination and emphasis: we have to do it for all our compatriots who make the effort and get vaccinated and who, because of the irresponsibility of some others, which is sometimes a conscious choice, become infected."
"And we must also do it for our compatriots who sometimes give in to obscurantist views, to views of fear: they are not protecting themselves, while science, research and European technological and productive excellence allow them to do so", he added.
"It is my responsibility to raise a little alarm, which is what I have done this week, so that things can move forward more quickly", he concluded. In support of the French President's remarks, Ursula von der Leyen said: "The vaccination certificate is a tool to protect the vaccinated....this debate on responsibility and freedom is very important in our society during a pandemic."
Emmanuel Macron had said on Tuesday:"The unvaccinated I very much want to corner them, to make life difficult for them. And I will continue to the end. That's the strategy." His statements caused a political storm as the French National Assembly was debating a bill to convert the health certificate into a vaccination certificate. Despite the acrimony of the debates, the bill was passed on Thursday night.
[/P][BR][BR]France has recorded an average seven-day average of 200,000 daily cases of Covid-19, a record level since the start of the epidemic due to the high transmissibility of the Omicron mutation.
Source: CNA
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