BRITS’ FRENCH JAB PASSPORT CHAOS
Holidaymakers must show vaccine proof from today but does Macron’s app work?
THOUSANDS of Britons holidaying in France face chaos under Emmanuel Macron’s Covid passport rules which come into force today.
Many are expected to go to France after it came off the UK’s ‘amber plus’ travel list yesterday, meaning fully-vaccinated travellers will no longer need to quarantine on return.
But they will have to prove they are fully vaccinated for everything in France – from a trip up the Eiffel Tower to a glass of wine on an outdoor terrace.
Proof of being double-jabbed, in the form of digital QR codes handed out by the NHS, must be uploaded to the French coronavirus smartphone app.
The Mail failed to get NHS QR codes recognised at venues across France on several occasions over the past week but the authorities have insisted that things will work smoothly from today.
However there was uncertainty for those who do not have a smartphone – 20 per cent of the UK population – with the French foreign ministry unable to clarify how the system would work for those without the digital code.
NHS letters are accepted as proof of vaccination at the border prior to entering the country but there was no provision for using them to access tourist hotspots, cafes or restaurants. French ambassador
Catherine Colonna said ‘any specific query should be addressed to the French consulate’ in the UK, which did not pick up the phone yesterday.
President Macron’s law has been blasted as overbearing and authoritarian, with more than 200,000 people taking to streets across France
‘Not our job to play health police’
on Saturday in the fourth consecutive weekend of demonstrations.
Businesses worry it will kill the cafe culture this summer, just weeks after the country emerged from a brutal lockdown. Thousands of restaurants last night said they would defy the rules.
A survey by French trade magazine L’echommerces found that 40 per cent of bar and restaurant owners will simply ignore it.
And one in Brittany vowed he would rather go to jail than ask British holidaymakers to comply.
Jean-Jacques Samoy, 60, who owns La Java Cafe in St Malo, was defiant as he said: ‘I have put 45,000 euros (£38,000) to one side in a blocked account to pay any fines and have packed my suitcase in case I go to prison.
‘The British are always welcome but I won’t be asking for your vaccine passports. It is not our job to play the role of health police. It is completely crazy.’
Mr Samoy, who is fully vaccinated, said Mr Macron was ‘using the pandemic as a pretext to treat the French people like children’. He added: ‘[It is] as if we have no common sense or intelligence anymore.’ Dozens of restaurateurs across the region have also signed a petition vowing to ignore the new law.
‘A red line has been crossed with the vaccine passport,’ the owners of nearly 50 venues wrote on Facebook. ‘If we don’t react, it will destroy the very soul of our cafes.’
Fines for customers who refuse to show the ‘health pass’ start at 135 euros (£115), rising to as much as 3,750 euros (£3,200) or even six months in prison for repeat offences. The same punishment applies for those using fakes or certificates belonging to someone else.
Businesses can be hit with fines of 1,500 euros (£1,300) or temporary closure orders if they fail to check the so-called ‘health passes’. This rises to penalties of 9,000 euros (£7,600) and a year in prison on the third offence.
France started its vaccine passport rollout on July 21 for nightclubs, sporting venues, museums, theatres and cinemas. But today sees the rules being extended to a new range of venues – including large shopping centres, long-distance trains and domestic flights.
Officials believe the measures will encourage more people to get the jabbed – with just under half of the population fully-vaccinated.
But far-Left presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Melenchon, who plans to run against Mr Macron in next year’s election, called the rules ‘absurd’. He accused Mr Macron of trampling on people’s freedoms.