The government should use article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the first part of its draft budget adopted in the Assembly without a vote, but not on Monday, said Elisabeth Borne this Sunday evening. The opposition groups “almost all confirmed to me that they would not vote for the budget and that they would even vote against it. So we will no doubt have to resort to 49.3 but, contrary to what Jean-Luc Mélenchon says, it will not be tomorrow ”Monday, said the Prime Minister on TF1.
The head of government, deprived of an absolute majority in the National Assembly, said that she “wants (to) that the debate takes place”: “It is a debate which is important, there are quality exchanges, there are interesting proposals, some of which, those of the majority and those of the opposition, could be included in the final text”. Elisabeth Borne specified that she would have “tomorrow, (…) an exchange with the presidents of parliamentary groups” of the majority. “We will look at which amendments will be included in the final text and which will not,” she added, refusing to say whether the amendment taxing super-dividends, at the initiative of the MoDem and adopted against the advice of the government, would be among the amendments retained.
The highly commented use of 49.3
Jean-Luc Mélenchon had said this Sunday, on the sidelines of the demonstration in Paris “against the high cost of living and climate inaction” that the Prime Minister was going to “announce that 49.3 will be applied on Monday or perhaps Tuesday – but more likely on Monday – because they do not want the session to resume and that the parliamentarians vote on amendments concerning the wealth tax”. The Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal wished this Sunday morning on Europe 1 / CNews /The echoes “that we go as far as possible in the budget debate”.
For his part, questioned on France 3, the former socialist president François Hollande considered legitimate the use of 49.3 “when the debate took place”. But in the present case, “it may seem sufficient”. The leader of the deputies RN Marine Le Pen denounced in this recourse to 49.3, according to her too late, a “denial of the popular will” expressed by the National Assembly.