French President Emmanuel Macron doubled down on the controversial comments he made earlier this week that claimed he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people through his nation’s restrictions against those who refuse to get COVID-19 shots.
Macron responded to his recent remarks during a news conference in Paris on Friday.
“When some make from their freedom … a motto, not only do they put others’ lives at risk, but they are also curtailing others’ freedom. That I cannot accept,” he said in reference to unvaccinated people, according to the Associated Press.
“When you are a citizen you must agree to do your civic duty,” he added.
“About 77% of the population, including more than 91% of adults, are fully vaccinated,” according to the report.
France is currently debating whether new vaccine pass laws should be approved to restrict activities among the unvaccinated and encourage more citizens to receive the jab.
The new vaccine pass would exclude unvaccinated people from theaters, restaurants, sporting events, and other public venues. It would also impact transportation, as it would be required to travel on buses and domestic flights.
The Associated Press said the debate will continue in the French Senate next week with plans to finalize the legislation by the middle of the month.
The politics regarding the decision are also important. Macron faces a battle for reelection that will take place in April.
Macron is expected to announce his plans to run for a second term but has yet to officially reveal his decision.
“There is no false suspense. I want to,” Macron said, according to a France 24 report on Tuesday. “Once the health situation allows it and I have made everything clear — inside myself and with respect to the political equation — I will say what it (the decision) is.”
The Daily Wire previously reported that a more accurate translation of the term Macron used in his original comments may have been much worse:
According to multiple reports, French President Emmanuel Macron said that his goal was to “piss off” the unvaccinated in his country — hoping that the threat of more draconian restrictions would spur them to get vaccinated — but people who speak French claimed that what Macron really said was much worse.
The New York Times World section posted a tweet saying, “President Macron of France drew criticism over his comments about people who had refused coronavirus vaccines. ‘I really want to piss off the unvaccinated,’ he told the newspaper Le Parisien. ‘And so we are going to continue doing that, until the end.’”
The Washington Post went with the same translation, tweeting, “‘I am not for pissing off the French … however, the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off,’ French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview.”
Politico Europe tweeted, “Emmanuel Macron’s use of the term ‘piss off’ has caused a furore in France. But he’s not the first French politician to break into bad language. Charles de Gaulle and Nicolas Sarkozy, among others, also famously employed ‘gros mots.’”
But as policy correspondent for The Independent Jon Stone noted, something may have been lost in translation. “English langauge press grappling with reporting Macron saying he wants to ‘«Emmerder» the unvaccinated is quite funny. Most going with ‘piss off’ and others ‘hassle’… of course it literally means ‘to sh*t on.’”