After four days of lively and often heated debates, the National Assembly adopted the second part of the measures in support of purchasing power, with contortions which still aroused the anger of the oppositions RN and Nupes on Wednesday.
The deputies voted at first reading this rectified draft budget for 2022 by 293 votes against 146, and 17 abstentions. The Republicans, to whom the executive has repeatedly given satisfaction, supported the text.
The deputies of the National Rally, on the other hand, did not take part in the vote: they left the hemicycle in protest against the way in which the Assembly reversed an additional revaluation of 500 million euros for retirement pensions , approved a few hours earlier.
The government asked for a second deliberation to cancel a measure it was fighting, sparking a heated debate, with virulent exchanges between the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, the Nupes and the RN.
“Budget allowance; resource envelope”
In the end, after this first round, in the form of a test for the Borne government deprived of an absolute majority, Bruno Le Maire welcomed Wednesday on France Inter that the debates in the Assembly had made it possible to “stay within budget“originally planned by the government.
The interim president of the Republicans Annie Genevard acknowledged for her part that her party was on “a complicated ridge line“, while his support for the bill and the second deliberation earned him accusations of “treason” from the RN.
“On these first three pieces of legislation, we obtained a lot of things, which led us to vote for them, but the five-year term is not over, we are going to attack the hard at the start of the school year with everything related to safety which has was all the same the great forgotten of the previous five-year term, the reform of the labor market, we will fully play our role“, she warned on Europe 1.
The Nupes and the RN did not take off on Wednesday.
“The PLFR2022 ended with a vote against the purchasing power of retirees. I am certain that this small victory for the bourgeois bloc LREM/LR promises it great defeats in the future.“, tweeted the chairman of the Finance Committee Eric Coquerel (LFI).
The LFI group is also planning an appeal to the Constitutional Council concerning the abolition of the audiovisual license fee.
“Refusal to tax super-profits. No revaluation of benefits or pensions at the level of inflation. Suppression of the royalty replaced by a do-it-yourself which weakens the public audio-visual one. Disregard of opposition“, also reacted the leader of the socialist deputies Boris Vallaud.
On the RN side, deputy Sébastien Chenu estimated that there had been “tonight three losers: the pensioners for whom we had obtained 500 million in aid; the voters of the Republicans betrayed by their elected officials (in the middle of the night, it’s less conspicuous!); and democracy trampled by the brutality of Macronie – the famous new method no doubt!“.
Early Friday morning, the Assembly had already adopted the first part, the 20 billion euros of the “emergency” bill in support of purchasing power, in the face of galloping inflation.
The amended draft budget opens up 44 billion euros in credits, including 9.7 to finance the 100% renationalization of EDF.
Continuation of the tariff shield on energy and the fuel discount of 30 cents per liter in September-October then 10 in November-December, revaluation of the index point for civil servants were also on the menu.
End of regulated gas prices on July 1, 2023: towards out-of-control prices?
The boss of the LR deputies Olivier Marleix said he was satisfied with the “positive showdown with the government“which made it possible to take a series of measures on fuel, the purchase of RTTs by companies and even the tax exemption of overtime.
On the RN side, the elected officials deplored the rejection of their proposals for VAT reductions, and more generally the economic and fiscal policy of the executive.
“Bruno Le Maire confirmed last night the end of regulated gas prices on July 1, 2023. Prices will then be out of control!“, denounced the head of deputies RN Marine Le Pen on Twitter.
The vote on this structuring text for public finances was much narrower than that five days ago on the first part.
He understood him the revaluations of pensions and social benefits, the increase in the ceiling of the “Macron bonus” and again, voted in a rare moment of concord, the deconjugalization of the disabled adult allowance.
The exchanges in the hemicycle, which lasted eight days and nights in total, were sometimes chaotic, and the majority was put in the minority on several occasions.
Tuesday evening, for example, the Assembly denounced, against the advice of the government, the American extraterritoriality which requires French citizens born in the United States to pay taxes there. It approved, against the advice of the government, an LR amendment of primarily symbolic significance.
The day before, they had already approved 230 million euros for homes heating with oil against the advice of the executive, who favored aid of 50 million euros.
On Saturday, the Assembly decided to allocate 120 million to the departments which pay the RSA in 2022, to fully compensate for the 4% increase in this benefit programmed by the State.
The measure was obtained by the conjunction of the favorable votes of the left, the RN, the LRs but also the deputies of the Horizons group. This is the first time that these allies of the majority have marked their difference.