After four days of heated debate on the bill in favor of purchasing power, the deputies were grappling, via the rectified draft budget, with the second part of the measures intended to counter the effects of inflation. It was adopted overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, by 293 votes to 146, and 17 abstentions – The Republicans, to whom the executive gave satisfaction on several occasions, supported the text – and must now be examined in the Senate .
The deputies of the National Rally, on the other hand, did not take part in the vote: they left the hemicycle in protest against the way in which the Assembly reversed an increase in pensions additional 500 million euros for pensions pension approved a few hours earlier. The government asked for a second deliberation to cancel a measure it was fighting, sparking a heated debate, with virulent exchanges between the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, the Nupes and the RN.
The text contains in particular the abolition of the fee which finances public broadcasting, a promise by Emmanuel Macron, passed without incident on Saturday morning although it raises many questions about the independence of the media concerned. Majority and LR amendments were adopted to allocate “a fraction” of VAT, for an amount of around 3.7 billion euros, in order to address concerns about the financing of this sector.
Gasoline Price Compromise
Regarding the price of gasoline, a compromise was found on Saturday between the government and the right-wing opposition. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has pledged to increase the discount, raising it from 18 to 30 cents per liter until October. “The discount could increase from 18 to 30 euro cents in September and October, then increase to 10 in November and 10 in December,” he explained. And with the discount of 20 cents at the pump announced by TotalEnergies, “you would have fuel at some service stations in France at 1.5 euros”, a threshold defended by Les Républicains. This measure, Bercy let us know on Monday evening, will be the subject of a decree which will be published at the end of August. The amending finance bill has reserved the credits necessary for its implementation, ie 4.4 billion euros.
In addition, a tax on “superprofits” was rejected by only 18 votes. Four majority deputies abstained, including Sacha Houlié and Caroline Janvier, who had defended the principle of this tax. One of their colleague from Horizons voted for it. On the other hand, the elected representatives of the opposition succeeded in putting in minority the deputies of the majority on an exceptional aid in favor of the French people who heat themselves with fuel oil. If the text passes as is, they could thus benefit from an overall envelope of 230 million euros. The government deplored the vote on an imprecise amendment, for which we do not know the criteria.
And then there are these provisions voted against the advice of the government. This is true for this symbolic amendment aimed at denouncing American extraterritoriality which requires French citizens born in the United States to pay taxes there. But especially for this envelope of 500 million euros dedicated to retirement pensions in the public service. Voted on Tuesday in the early evening by the deputies of the opposition groups, the provision was finally emptied of its substance at the end of the night after the tabling of a new majority amendment under a second deliberation. All in an electric atmosphere likely to strain future debates in the Assembly.