The return of 49.3? The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, estimated this Sunday on RTL that the executive will probably resort again to article 49.3 of the Constitution “in autumn” to approve budgetary laws.
“We will have to resort, surely this fall, to 49.3,” he warns.
The use of this article of the Constitution allows laws to be approved, without going through the vote of the deputies. “Our country needs a budget”, justifies the head of government.
The oppositions pointed out
For Elisabeth Borne, although she believes that the opposition parties have the “right” not to vote in favor of the next budget to be presented by the government, she deplores the positions adopted by some.
“On the financial texts and, in particular, the (State) budget and the social security budget, the oppositions consider that voting on a budget is saying that it belongs to a majority,” he criticizes.
He also denounces the discourse of some who make “believe that we are blocked, while the French advance”, highlighting the texts of laws on purchasing power or on renewable energy that have already been voted.
A possibility already mentioned last June
The Prime Minister had already opened the door, last June, to a possible new use of 49.3, widely criticized by the opposition for having been used to approve the unpopular pension reform.
“It happens that we are in a strange situation, in which we do not have an absolute majority. The people voted in favor, do you want the State to have no budget? (…) So that our country can function, have a budget, without It will certainly be necessary to use 49.3”, he told Brut.
“It is not a denial of democracy, it is assuming responsibility, the future of the government, in the hands of Parliament,” he said in this same interview.
In total, the article in question was used. 11 times by Prime Minister since her appointment in May 2022.
Source: BFM TV
