France adopts vaccine pass law to curb country's surging COVID-19 cases
January 17, 2022, 7:15 am

France adopts vaccine pass law to curb country's surging COVID-19 cases

France-Lyon/Pixabay

The Xinhua reported that the French National Assembly, or the lower house of the Parliament, adopted on Sunday evening a law which will transform the health pass into a stricter vaccine pass in a bid to curb the country's surging COVID-19 cases.

The National Assembly adopted the law by a vote of 215 for and 58 against and after debates and discussions during the past two weeks.

The French government hopes to adopt the law as soon as possible after the approval of the Constitutional Council, the country's highest constitutional authority.

Under the new law, negative COVID-19 tests will no longer be valid to gain access to public venues. Bars, restaurants and cafes are allowed to verify the identity of vaccine pass holders when in doubt.

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The vaccine pass concerns people over the age of 16. Children between the ages of 12 to 15 are not obliged to have a vaccine pass but must present a health pass.

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On Thursday, the French Ministry of Health announced that at least 600,000 people would lose their health pass on Jan. 15 as they have not received their booster shot.

France reported on Thursday 305,322 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

Source: xinhua

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.