The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, rarely resists the temptation to quote a great author. Monday, July 18, he summoned George Orwell before the deputies to portray himself as ” revolutionary “ in the face of criticism from the alliance of left-wing parties. Four days later, he used the titles of various works by William Faulkner to call on the opposition to compromise.
The National Assembly began on Friday July 22 the examination of the amending budget, which contains several key measures for the purchasing power of households, such as the abolition of the audiovisual license fee, the extension of the rebate at the pump of 18 centimes, or a new check subject to income for high rollers. This is the second of two bills in favor of purchasing power, the first having been adopted overnight from Thursday to Friday. Together, they mobilize more than 20 billion euros of public money.
“Our Assembly can be ‘the sound and the fury’, warned the Minister of the Economy in his introductory remarks. She can also become “while I am dying”, “if the debates drag on until late at night or early in the morning”, he joked. I propose to you rather that this Assembly be “light of August”. A somewhat late message: more than 1,000 amendments to the text, which comprises fifteen articles, had been tabled before the start of the session, promising a real long-distance race for the executive. And at the end of the first day of debates, very animated, the deputies had not yet succeeded in reaching article 1.
“We challenge your methods”
“This text does not respond to the urgencies of our time”denounced the “rebellious” Eric Coquerel, chairman of the finance committee, annoyed that the minister’s speech “do not mention the word ‘salary’ once”. “We contest your methods, which consist in multiplying the checks targeted on a few while forgetting the middle classes without having the courage to lower taxes for all, for his part attacked Véronique Louwagie, leader of the elected Les Républicains (LR) on the finance committee. The French pay taxes to the State, the State pays them checks with which they will pay new taxes. » Others, on the contrary, asked for greater targeting of the measures, such as MP Lise Magnier (Horizons), or Charles de Courson (Freedoms and Territories), for whom “general measures are expensive and are neither socially nor economically effective”.
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