The meeting only lasted an hour and a half, but it was enough for the seven deputies and seven senators meeting in a joint joint committee (CMP), Wednesday evening August 3, to reach an agreement on the amending finances (PLFR) for 2022. ” It’s a success. We were told a month ago that it was not possible to gather a majority on a budget text: we are doing it”, rejoices Jean-René Cazeneuve (Gers, Renaissance), the general rapporteur of the budget at the National Assembly.
In the amount of 44 billion euros, this amending budget allocates 20 billion euros for the financing of the measures included in the purchasing power bill, adopted definitively on Wednesday, and 9.7 billion euros in credits to finance the renationalisation of EDF. In particular, it provides for the abolition of the audiovisual fee, the increase in aid for the purchase of fuel from 18 to 30 euro cents per liter, the raising of the tax exemption ceiling for overtime from 5,000 to 7,500 euros , the possibility of repurchase of the RTT by the employers as well as an envelope of aids of 600 million euros to the territorial collectivities.
On Wednesday afternoon, uncertainty hovered over the outcome of these discussions in the corridors of the National Assembly, as the debates around the emergency measures taken by the executive to counter inflation have been divisive in Parliament since the start of their exam on July 11. Worn by weariness, the parliamentarians hoped, however, to avoid lengthening their work, which could delay the adoption of this text beyond August 7.
Three ” blocking points ” remained at the center of the negotiations, in particular between the presidential camp and the right: the sustainability of the increase in the ceiling for tax-exempt overtime hours as well as the possibility of buying back RTT beyond December 2023; compensation for local authorities; the reallocation of the exceptional back-to-school bonus to beneficiaries of the activity bonus to the detriment of recipients of social minima. Three measures which were defended in the Senate, during the examination of the text in first reading.
“Come out on top”
In CMP, the senators of the senatorial majority (right and center) finally agreed with the presidential camp to set a deadline for the possibility for employers to buy back the RTT on December 31, 2025. On the other hand, the raising of the ceiling of tax exemption for overtime is instituted without time limit, in accordance with an amendment from the senatorial right. “We have the feeling that we have a text that corresponds more to what we wanted: to have a revaluation through work of purchasing power and not just income that falls from the sky”, supports Senator Les Républicains (LR) from Hauts-de-Seine Christine Lavarde.
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