The Higher Council of Public Finances (HCFP) canceled on Friday a press conference to present its opinion on the State and Social Security budget projects that was to be held on Monday.
For an HCFP opinion to be valid, it must be related to the text presented to the Council of Ministers, which at the moment remains uncertain, explained to AFP the first president of the Court of Auditors and president of the HCFP, Pierre Moscovici.
According to him, “it makes no sense” to communicate an opinion that at this point remains “hypothetical” because it lacks guarantees that the two finance laws will be effectively presented to the Council of Ministers.
The HCFP initially cited Pierre Moscovici’s “schedule limitations” to justify this cancellation.
Questioned by AFP, the HCFP also indicated that it could not confirm the date of publication of the opinion on the budget texts.
The presentation of the finance bill on October 13 would theoretically allow parliamentarians to benefit from the 70-day period provided by the Constitution to examine it.
Elected officials could also study the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS), which has a shorter maximum review period (50 days).
Credibility
These deadlines do not run from the presentation of the texts in Parliament, but from the receipt by the Presidency of the National Assembly of additional budget documents from Matignon, sometimes on the same day or a few days later.
Mandatory for an opinion before its presentation to the Council of Ministers, like the Council of State, the HCFP initially planned to detail its content during a press conference on Monday.
This body attached to the Court of Auditors pronounces on the credibility of the macroeconomic hypotheses established by the Government, for example the growth forecasts or the magnitude of the public deficit.
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, promised to name a prime minister on Friday night, following the surprise resignation of Sébastien Lecornu on Monday.
If the finance bill is presented to the Council of Ministers on Monday, the committee’s examination of its first part (income and budget balance) “could take place at the end of next week or over the weekend”, according to the delegation of the president of the finance commission of the national assembly, Eric Coquerel (LFI). It specifies that the calendar “will depend on when the examination in public session of the first part begins.”
Source: BFM TV
