After its adoption in the Senate, the Social Security budget returns to the Assembly this Thursday

2023-11-23 15:23:43

The parliamentary shuttle continues. After its adoption in the Senate, the Social Security budget resumes its legislative journey in the National Assembly on Thursday. The text should, unsurprisingly, quickly become the subject of a new 49.3. This is the 18th since the appointment of Élisabeth Borne as head of government.

In this budget, the executive is aiming for a saving of 3.5 billion euros on spending in the health sector in 2024, via reductions in spending on medicines, analysis labs and even sick leave, as well as a reinforced fight against fraud. The deputies will examine at second reading the “revenue” part of the social security financing bill (PLFSS), before a second passage in the Senate and final adoption in the Assembly by the end of the year.

A deficit that could reach 17.5 billion by 2027

Adopted without a vote at first reading via the constitutional weapon of 49.3, this budget “is fully in line with (the) trajectory of controlling public spending” of the government, without being “synonymous with austerity”, defended the Minister of Accounts public Thomas Cazenave. The “Secu” deficit, set at 8.8 billion euros in 2023 then 10.7 billion in 2024 according to the latest government forecasts, could reach 17.5 billion by 2027.

This bill was adopted Tuesday by senators in a substantially revised version. Thus, on one of the most sensitive points of the text, that of the withdrawal envisaged by the State of the surpluses of the Agirc-Arcco pension plan, the senators voted for an amendment aimed at “guaranteeing freedom of management” to the social partners who are responsible for it.

Tensions linked to the repeated use of 49.3

But the rapporteur of the text to the Assembly Stéphanie Rist (Renaissance) proposes to “return to the initial version” of the government text. The government has given up “at this stage” on tapping this pension scheme, but it expects the social partners to themselves put in place a contribution intended to improve the smallest pensions.

The repeated use of 49.3 for financial texts may have created a certain bitterness among deputies in recent weeks, including those in the majority. On Wednesday, the Assembly adopted without force the end of management bill, an exception welcomed even in the ranks of La France insoumise. This is “proof that when the government is constructive, when it seeks a compromise with its opposition, there is a possibility of debate and even of going as far as the adoption of a text”, applauded the chairman of the finance committee Éric Coquerel.