A bumpy start that predicts difficult hours for the executive. After the announcement of 49.3 this Wednesday by the Prime Minister for the approval of the 2023 budget, the deputies have been working since Thursday on the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS). And as soon as the discussions began, Renaissance was already in deep trouble.
Article 1, which validates Social Security spending for the year 2021, was mostly rejected with 84 votes against and only 66 in favor. Enough to anger Gabriel Attal, Delegate Minister of Public Accounts, who expressed his “very great astonishment” at this result.
“You made the decision to reject the presentation of the accounts of what happened,” he scolded before the parliamentarians. “We cannot change the past. (…) It is illustrative of their position of absolute blockade.”
“It’s up to you to mobilize your deputies”
As the executive does not have an absolute majority, it is forced to defeat the recall of its deputies so that they come to sit in large numbers in the hemicycle, so as not to find themselves in a minority. But, after hours of debate over the budget and complaints from lawmakers who reject the imposed pace, the government is clearly struggling to sufficiently mobilize its troops.
“It’s up to you to mobilize the 240 deputies of your majority because there you could approve article 2. You have a few minutes left to do it,” replied deputy LR Thibault Bazin mockingly.
Message received 5 out of 5. Article 2 was adopted a few minutes later – with 2 votes. The relief, however, was short-lived. The first part of the PLFSS, which allows closing Social Security accounts, was also largely rejected: 72 deputies voted in favor, 98 against.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. We take note of what happened. I don’t understand this position of wanting to block everything, of opposing everything, of wanting to dismantle a text with articles that have no impact. about the future”, still upset Gabriel Attal.
Enough to push the government to potentially quickly use 49.3 to speed up debates and get its text adopted without a vote. The Council of Ministers has already prepared its back to the allowing its use despite calls from Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly, to “take time for debates”.
Towards a very fast 49.3
“We voted against, it is our right,” replied Marine Le Pen in the hemicycle. “It’s our right. We have a feeling he’s exaggerating the outrage a bit, maybe because he’s about to take out a certain article.”
Olivier Véran already prepared the mood this Thursday morning, announcing that the 49.3 could be used “between today and in 8 days”. Far from waiting almost until the last minute to get this budget announcement out, Elisabeth Borne might this time want to go real fast and announce it in the next few hours.
On paper, the debates should last until October 26, a highly unlikely scenario.
Source: BFM TV
