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FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians walk amid the spread of Covid-19 in Paris, France. \u00a9 Reuters \/ Charles Platiau<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
RT.com<\/p>\n
French citizens who decline to take the coronavirus vaccine will be barred from public transportation, among other places, under a controversial \u201cGreen Passport\u201d plan set out in a draft law that\u2019s now on its way to parliament.<\/p>\n
Gaining the support of Prime Minister Jean Castex\u2019s cabinet earlier this week, the\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0proposes to deny\u00a0\u201caccess to transport or to some locations, as well as certain activities\u201d<\/em>\u00a0to those unable to prove that they received a\u00a0\u201cpreventative treatment\u201d<\/em>\u00a0for Covid-19, including a vaccine, or produce a negative virus screening.<\/p>\n The draft bill has been harshly denounced by members of the opposition, with the spokesman of the right-wing National Rally party (RN), Sebastien Chenu, accusing the government of planning a\u00a0\u201chealth dictatorship.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0RN head Marine Le Pen, meanwhile,\u00a0blasted<\/a>\u00a0the proposed measure as\u00a0\u201cessentially totalitarian.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn a backhanded way, this bill does not aim to make vaccinations mandatory, but will prevent anybody who doesn’t comply from having a social life.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The center-right Republicans party (LR) also condemned the bill, with deputy leader Guillaume Peltier saying it was\u00a0\u201cinconceivable\u201d<\/em>\u00a0that officials would\u00a0\u201cget all the power to suspend our freedoms without parliamentary control.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n A member of President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s La Republique En Marche party, Amelie de Montchalin, shot back at the critics, insisting the hot-button bill is\u00a0\u201cnot at all made to create exceptional powers for the government\u201d<\/em>\u00a0or establish an authoritarian\u00a0\u201chealth state.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The draft law is headed for a vote as the government prepares to roll out its\u00a0mass vaccination drive<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday. While the European Union\u00a0approved<\/a>\u00a0an immunization developed by Pfizer and BioNTech this week, opinion polls suggest French citizens remain deeply skeptical about the new jab. Several recent surveys showed more than 50 percent of respondents saying they had no intention of taking the vaccine, which could present obstacles for the government\u2019s goal to inoculate 15 million people by June.<\/p>\n The measures contained in the new bill mirror a recent Supreme Court ruling in Brazil, which laid the ground for similar restrictions on those refusing the vaccine. Insisting it would be unconstitutional to require citizens to take the jab, the court nonetheless determined that\u00a0\u201csanctions\u201d<\/em>\u00a0could be imposed on the unvaccinated, including prohibiting them from certain public places. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who vocally opposed the ruling, suggested it could see citizens placed under\u00a0\u201chouse arrest.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n