The finance bill (PLF) for the year 2023 was adopted at first reading, Friday, November 4 in the National Assembly, after the rejection of a fifth motion of censure tabled by the deputies of La France insoumise. The text, defended by left-wing elected officials in response to the use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution by Elisabeth Borne, on Wednesday, brought together 188 supporting votes – 289 were needed for the government to be censured.
The motion, defended at the podium by the elected representative of Reunion, Jean-Hugues Ratenon, had almost no chance of obtaining the necessary absolute majority, for lack of the votes of the group Les Républicains (LR). “We will never associate ourselves with a motion of censure by La France insoumise, whose ideas are the opposite of ours. If we deem it useful, when the time is right, we will table our own motion of censure. But on our terms”, insisted on the platform the LR deputy for Orne, Véronique Louwagie. The Senate will examine the state budget for next year from November 17, in its version remodeled by the government.
In the expenditure part of the budget, the executive has thus retained amendments made by the deputies of the presidential camp, such as the increase in the salaries of those accompanying disabled students or support for emergency accommodation. On the other hand, he dismissed the 12 billion euros for the thermal renovation of housing or the 3 billion for the railway, which had been voted against his opinion by the National Assembly.
In the revenue section, the government also dismissed a voted socialist amendment, which provided for a tax credit for the remainder payable by all residents in nursing homes. He had not retained either an amendment for a taxation of “superdividends” of large companies, a proposal from his ally of the Modem which had gathered support from the opposition and even within the Renaissance party.
“Do we really want instability and disorder that will only benefit the far right? That’s the question every Republican needs to ask.defended in response to the motion of censure the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, before continuing: “Our compatriots are waiting for solutions. They will come from constructive debates, from the desire to build together. »
The National Rally group had planned to support the left-wing motion
Tension was at its height in the hemicycle on Friday afternoon, relations being stormy with the National Rally (RN) the day after an incident deemed racist against a deputy from La France insoumise (LFI) . The debates were preceded by the sanction of censure with temporary exclusion voted against the far-right deputy Grégoire de Fournas. His remarks on Thursday – “Let him return to Africa!” » –, considered racist by a large majority of the Hemicycle, caused an incident of a rare magnitude in the Assembly. The elected representative of Gironde will not be able to enter the Palais-Bourbon for the next fifteen days of sittings and his compensation for the next two months will be halved.
The “rebellious” blame the government for its “contempt for parliamentary power” and a use “authoritarian” of 49.3, which allows the adoption of a text without a vote. In question: the fact that the executive, deprived of an absolute majority, rejected many amendments to the budget, which the oppositions had succeeded in having adopted. The government invokes a “blocking” objections, and measures « irresponsible » sometimes voted jointly by the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) and the elected representatives of the National Rally.
La France insoumise had taken care to specify in its motion that “our project and our vision of society place us in direct opposition to the far right”. Despite these deep differences, the deputies of the National Rally decided to support the text. “The group will once again assume its responsibilities and will vote, in the name of the people who put this government in a minority, the motion of censure that concerns us”announced Laure Lavalette, elected RN of Var, before the ballot.
Some of the left-wing allies of the Communist Party and Europe Ecologie-Les Verts also voted in favor of the text, the Socialist Party having decided to abstain. Assuming a strategic divergence, they had not joined in the filing of the LFI motion, fearing a “trivialization” of the tool and a weariness of opinion. Monday, 22 votes of the left allies had failed in the vote on the LFI motion on the social security budget, including those of the boss of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, the socialist Valérie Rabault or the ecologist Delphine Batho.