Budget 2024: the government activates 49.3 to have the first part of the project adopted without a vote

2023-10-18 18:06:01

The government is once again drawing its lethal weapon. For the 13th time since her arrival in Matignon, Élisabeth Borne triggered this Wednesday 49.3 to have the first part of the 2024 draft budget adopted without a vote. “Today, the observation is clear: no opposition group is ready to vote on this finance bill. But our country needs this budget”, “the keystone of our public policies”, justified the Prime Minister before the National Assembly, where she does not have an absolute majority.

Tuesday evening, at the opening of the debates, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, accused the oppositions of asking for “more public spending, more debt, more taxes”, between the approximately 1,500 amendments of the LR, the “baroque inventions” of the RN and the “tax deluge” of the LFI. In total, more than 5,000 amendments were tabled on this revenue side of the budget, rejected in committee.

This 49.3 could announce a long series, since the government could draw ten in order to adopt the entire State budget (PLF) then that of Social Security (PLFSS) before Christmas, by retaining or rejecting the amendments of his choice.

Filing of two motions of censure

In response, France Insoumise and the National Rally announced they were filing a motion of censure. But their chances of success are very low, as long as the LRs do not get involved. “We are awaiting feedback from the PCF and the environmental group” to find out if they join this motion, announced Éric Coquerel, LFI president of the Finance Commission, in a context of strong tension between left-wing groups. “We will not join forces but we will vote on a motion of censure carried by the left,” said PS MP Christine Pires Beaune.

“It is still an admission of a total absence of respect for Parliament, of a total absence of respect for the debate,” denounced for his part the president-delegate of the RN group Jean-Philippe Tanguy in front of journalists, specifying that his group would vote for the other motions “written in obviously correct terms”, and calling on the LR to vote for that of the RN.