And when is 49.3? While the government is putting off pension reform, lawmakers are bracing for a turbulent return to the Assembly floor, with a divisive text on unemployment insurance starting Monday and then a fierce battle over the 2023 budget. The Senate will resume on Tuesday. with a debate on the States General of Justice, but it is at the Palais Bourbon where the atmosphere has changed radically since the legislative elections in June and the only relative majority in favor of Emmanuel Macron.
All the campuses expect fierce debates for Monday, after a month of September shared between work in the constituency and commissions in the Assembly to clear the texts. The ordinary session will begin at 4:00 pm with a debate on “the war in the Ukraine and its consequences in France”, during which the majority intends to challenge the LFI and the National Rally.
Insubordinate France promises a “fierce and fierce battle”
The deputies will continue at night with the bill on unemployment insurance: extension of stricter rules from 2021 to access compensation, and the possibility of tightening the system by decree is left to the government. Without stopping, the idea would be to modulate the duration of the compensation according to the state of the labor market.
“When things go well, we tighten the rules and, when things go wrong, we relax them,” summarizes Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt. “The debate will be difficult both in substance and in method,” predicts a macronista, who recalls an already “violent” session in July for the purchasing power package, with “hypertheatricality” in the hemicycle.
The left-wing coalition Nupes will rise up as a block against the text, hoping to get out of the rut after returning to school in September engulfed by cases of sexist and sexual violence, which will result in the “withdrawals” of Adrien Quatennens (LFI) and Julien Bayou (EELV). The rebels, who are calling for a march against the high cost of living on October 16, promise “a parliamentary guerrilla war, a fierce and fierce battle” on the forthcoming texts, according to deputy Alexis Corbière.
On the extreme right, the RN continues to attack Emmanuel Macron’s “social damage” project and is already presenting itself as “the alternative” for 2027. The right will be more open about unemployment insurance, confides an LR deputy: “It is in our DNA, it goes rather in the right direction.
The “49.3” already in the program
The most difficult thing is to come up with the 2023 budget project, whose examination must begin in the chamber on October 10 and which includes an energy rate shield and salary increases for teachers in particular. The LR group has already warned that it would vote against this text, which it considers too wasteful. Without an absolute majority, the government will have no choice but to resort to article 49, paragraph 3 of the Constitution to approve the budget without a vote.
When? The LRs are pushing for the executive to let the debate drag on as long as possible. Among the sensitive issues of this 2023 harvest, the situation of the communities in the face of inflation. Like this summer, the opposition could come together to snatch an extension. “Everyone is on it,” slides the leader of the communist deputies André Chassaigne. Gauche and RN also intend to push again for a tax on “super profits” by big business, which has benefited from the explosion in energy prices.
The Nupes will support common amendments to tax them, as a result of their shared initiative referendum proposal. Jean-Philippe Tanguy (RN) will also take the plunge against the “staggering margins of energy companies”.
Threats of dissolution against threats of a motion of censure
The government is committed to a “contribution” at the European level to avoid a distortion of competition, or direct gestures by companies towards consumers and the ecological transition. Bruno Le Maire summons energy companies this Wednesday, which he criticizes for “not playing enough with their clients, in particular SMEs.”
Once 49.3 has been drawn, the Left and RN could present motions of censure, with very little chance of success because LR does not plan to vote on it at this stage. Even if the right did not appreciate Emmanuel Macron’s “pressure” on the issue. The president has warned that he will dissolve the Assembly if he censures the government.
Source: BFM TV
