This is a trend that seems to be confirmed at the start of this legislature: the government is struggling to keep its agenda in parliament. The presidential troops having only a relative majority, the debates take longer than expected. The oppositions express themselves and try to pass amendments and negotiate with the executive power.
During the night of Monday to Tuesday, the government thus came up against the pace imposed by its opponents. The amending finance bill (PLFR), which is a correction of the State budget for the following year, could not be adopted. Only the first part obtained the consent of the deputies.
The vote took place late Monday afternoon. Sébastien Chenu, vice-president Rassemblement national at the Assembly proceeded to the vote by a show of hands.
The debates continued in the evening and at the beginning of the night. More than a thousand amendments in all were tabled by the oppositions.
“It will take as long as it takes”
Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, deplored this state of affairs. He said he had “the feeling that we are no longer working in the service of our compatriots” because of the slowness of the debates. “We are witnessing a real distortion of the democratic debate”, he declared, judging the debates “endless”. He accused his opponents of wanting to carry “probably very good” debates, such as the number of firefighters, but which are not linked “to purchasing power”. “Let’s get back to what is at the heart of our discussions: the purchasing power of our compatriots,” he said.
Damien Maudet, LFI deputy for Haute-Vienne, lamented that “it’s never the right time” for the government to talk about firefighters or salaries. “Don’t forget that the parliament is there to control the action of the government. And it’s not the other way around! The government is not there to control the parliament”
His colleague Manuel Bompard (LFI) agreed. “You can consider that certain subjects are not important, it is the democratic debate (…) But stop, each time that we have arguments, to say that they are invectives, each time that we have arguments to say that it is blockage. We will continue to argue (…) it will take the time it takes. »
The debates on the PLFR were suspended around 2:30 a.m. There are 230 amendments left to consider. The discussions will resume on Tuesday afternoon after the weekly questions to the government. In particular, the renationalisation of EDF remains to be validated.