Posted Oct 19, 2022, 7:08 PMUpdated Oct 20, 2022, 8:15 a.m.
Deputies sometimes absent in number, defeats in front of the opposition, internal divisions spread out in broad daylight… The six days of debate on the 2023 finance bill (PLF) at the Palais-Bourbon put the majority of Emmanuel Macron to the test. Some difficulties were anticipated, such as the Nupes guerrillas. Spread out in broad daylight, the struggles within the majority played the role of the surprise guest. The triggering of 49-3 by the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, this Wednesday at the end of the day, the first of a long series, was greeted with relief.
Everything is summed up in one amendment, that of Modem Jean-Paul Mattei on superdividends. It was adopted against the advice of the government, but 19 Renaissance deputies voted in favor, as did 35 Modem deputies, while 14 Horizons deputies, the party of Edouard Philippe, abstained. “We have aired our differences in broad daylight. The fate of this amendment, which has become the marker of our divisions, should have been settled upstream”, plagues a heavyweight of the majority.
Demining
The time is first for demining, because the turbulence in the National Assembly is far from over. “We are talking about an amendment, not a substantive orientation of the budget. Moreover, there is a government amendment that carries the same logic. We sometimes have to gain in quality by letting different sensibilities express themselves to enrich a text, ”said Renaissance MP Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet. “These are individual initiatives, not a coordinated movement. This is not a subject between us, ”adds Renaissance MP Violette Spillebout.
The story of this amendment is not over. If it is not included in the government text submitted to 49-3, the Modem does not intend to give up. “It is a country which needs justice and signs of justice”, declared this Wednesday morning on France Inter François Bayrou, the president of the Modem, about him. Jean-Paul Mattei has indicated his intention to “rework” his amendment. “Following this amendment, we reviewed the method to better coordinate ourselves,” said MP Sacha Houlié, chairman of the Law Commission.
In the hard
Four months after its poor performance in the legislative elections, the majority therefore enters the hard, with a Parliament which is more complicated to maneuver. “We are rediscovering that things are happening in Parliament”, notes a close friend of Emmanuel Macron. At the Elysée and Matignon, the political poles have been strengthened to better “treat” parliamentarians.
This amendment illustrates the divisions within the majority, against a backdrop of rivalries with a view to 2027. “The Mattei amendment is one more episode. But we knew that there would not be the same cohesion as during Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term. It is up to Elisabeth Borne to set a clear political line and create a collective,” said an adviser.
In both substance and form, differences have arisen on several occasions since the re-election of Emmanuel Macron, such as when François Bayrou fought against an amendment concerning the legal retirement age in the PLFSS or when Edouard Philippe mentioned the same postponement of this legal age to 67… The taxation of superprofits also stirred up the majority. The examples are many. The prospect of 2027 does not help, because several tenors of the majority have already entered the game to try to succeed Emmanuel Macron. Edouard Philippe is working patiently on this with his party, François Bayrou has not completely excluded him, without forgetting Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin.