France erupts as Macron vows to ‘bug’ unvaxxed
Paris, Jan. 5: French President Emmanuel Macron has provoked outcries in Parliament and protests from election rivals by using a vulgarity to describe his strategy for pressuring vaccine refusers to get coronavirus jabs.
Mr Macron used the French word “emmerder”, rooted in the French word for “crap” and meaning to rile or to bug, in an interview published by French newspaper Le Parisien on Tuesday The President made the explosive remark as lawmakers are heatedly debating new measures that would allow only the vaccinated to enjoy leisure activities such as eating out.
“The unvaccinated, I really want to bug them. And so we will continue doing so, to the end. That’s the strategy,” Le Parisien quoted the French leader as saying in a sit-down interview at the presidential Elysee Palace with a panel of its readers.
His use of earthy more commonly heard at the counters of French cafes further complicated the already difficult passage in Parliament of the government’s planned new vaccine pass. Legislators debated into early Wednesday morning before their discussions were again suspended, disrupted by the furor over Mr Macron’s remarks.
The vaccine pass will exclude unvaccinated individuals from places such as restaurants, cinemas, theaters, museums and sports arenas. The pass will also be required on inter-regional trains and buses, and on domestic flights.
Opposition legislators protested audibly in the National Assembly chamber as Mr Macron’s health minister, Olivier Veran, sought to defend the President’s choice of words.
Mr Veran said Mr Macron’s interview demonstrated his “intention, above all, to protect the population”.
Critics accused Mr Macron of behavior unbecoming a president and of targeting the unvaccinated to win support from the 90 per cent of French adults who are fully vaccinated.