2023-12-13 00:39:18
Finally… The Senate ended its budgetary marathon on Tuesday with the adoption of the finance bill for 2024, reworked after three weeks of debate which revealed some points of convergence with the government but above all multiple disagreements. Dominated by the right-wing opposition, the upper house went to the end of the discussion of the state budget, unlike the National Assembly, restricted by the use of article 49.3 of the Constitution.
The government’s commitment to its responsibility for this text allows the presidential camp to keep in the Assembly only those measures that suit it and to reject all others. This complicates the chances of seeing the senatorial provisions persist in the final version of the budget, expected on December 21 at the end of the parliamentary procedure.
Despite everything, the senators voted 191 votes to 102 for their version of the budget, which proposes savings in the face of the deficit but also support measures, in particular towards local authorities, always cajoled by the Chamber of Territories.
Less spending
“The Senate proposed seven billion in real savings. Not savings at the expense of growth or ecological transition. No paper savings,” promised Les Républicains senator Christine Lavarde on Tuesday. “If democracy does not live with the contributions of the Senate, I think we will be even more fragile,” added general rapporteur Jean-François Husson, urging the government to “pass” the senatorial proposals despite 49.3.
Among the measures voted on in the Senate: the extension to three days of the waiting period in the state civil service, the elimination of 10,000 positions among state operators, the reduction in the public development aid budget and a clear restriction of aid to companies employing apprentices.
Systematically, the government has expressed its opposition, clinging to its version of the text which must reduce the public deficit to 4.4% of GDP in 2024, against 4.9% in 2023. On several issues, the two camps even showed themselves to be irreconcilable. The Minister of Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave noted in particular “a real disagreement” on the measures to protect households in the face of the increase in the price of electricity.
Tense debates on immigration
The Senate voted for targeting aid to the most precarious thanks to new “electricity checks”. The government maintains its desire to limit the increase in prices for all households to a maximum of 10% in February 2024. Same differences on the refocusing of the zero-rate loan, rejected by the senators, as well as on the reserved tax advantage to international sports federations including Fifa, contested by almost the entire chamber.
In the background, the tenacious debates on immigration, at the heart of the parliamentary autumn, also found their way into the budget: the senatorial majority thus reduced the State Medical Aid budget by a third ( AME) for undocumented foreigners… Rare were the advances made possible by these debates that were almost a foregone conclusion. However, the beginnings of a compromise have been found for the upcoming creation of a territorial climate fund of 200 million euros intended for local authorities. And Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne ended up granting an additional 100 million euros to the municipalities.
VIDEO. Budget 2024: Élisabeth Borne holds the government accountable through 49.3, this time on spending
On the left of the hemicycle, the groups tried to fight against both government proposals and those of the senatorial right… With a mixed result, even if several tax justice measures were voted on thanks to the centrist group, such as a tax slightly increased for very high incomes or even the tightening of taxation on furnished tourist rentals such as Airbnb.
“Our proposals were refused by the government and the right hand in hand,” denounced communist senator Pascal Savoldelli, pinpointing “projects that are confused” between executive and senatorial majority. “We cannot bring ourselves to accept that Parliament is no more than a register of decisions taken outside of it”, continued the socialist Thierry Cozic, in reference to 49.3, probably reactivated on Thursday in the Assembly on this budget.
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