Mutual accusations. With just under a day left before the scheduled end of debates on the first part of the budget, the left accuses the government of deliberately slowing down the debates. The right then assumes that Renaissance has agreed to withdraw the amendments.
“All this is extremely serious for the democratic debate,” said Mathilde Panot, president of the rebel deputies, in the chamber.
Response from Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister of Economy: “we want to end the debates this weekend”, advocating the acceleration of trade. Coming from the ranks of the macro-granddaughter, the tenant nevertheless defended “respect for Parliament.”
“We could still debate for a few days”
Suffice it to say that in the ranks of the Assembly no one clearly wants to be accused of being responsible for resorting to 49.3, that institutional cartridge that ends debates without a vote and allows the approval of the budget.
On the one hand, the left shows its desire to move forward while the government constantly says it is listening. As proof of its good will: the Ministry of Relations with Parliament extended the deadlines and allowed deputies to meet until Saturday evening, although the debate was due to end this Friday evening.
“I think we could still have debated a few more days, but it was too complicated with the social security budget that will begin next Monday,” explains a Macronist deputy to BFMTV.com.
It must be said that even with the new deadline, the debates risk being truncated. At noon this Friday, the deputies were only on article 7 of 64, after 5 days of debate.
“They are not going to criticize us for wanting to improve the budget”
It therefore seems highly unlikely that the revenue component, currently under review, will be able to be studied in its entirety on Saturday afternoon. To speed up the debates, the left agreed to withdraw 270 amendments. But this is not enough and rightly so: the deputies presented more than 3,650 amendments, of which 45% came from the presidential coalition alone.
The Renaissance deputies agreed to withdraw a hundred amendments. But the right, which presented 20% of the amendments, has no doubts about doing the same.
“They are not going to criticize us for wanting to improve this budget,” says a right-wing parliamentary collaborator.
Véronique Louwagie, vice-president of the LR Finance Committee, assumes responsibility. “The budget is the variation of all the country’s public policies that interest the French. There are many issues and, therefore, many modifications,” judges this budget specialist.
“It is evident that all these little ones from LR are hindering with the support of Michel Barnier,” the deputy Richard Ramos is annoyed.
The idea behind Matignon’s head for centrists: the desire to deliberately let debates continue with the aim of falling within the scope of article 47 of the Constitution.
The option of article 47, a “very practical” option
This would force the Assembly, if it could not decide in first reading on the budget that still includes a spending section to be studied, to transmit it directly to the Senate after 40 days, that is, on November 21.
The upper house, with a right-wing majority, could then largely adopt government measures before the budget returns to the joint committee, this body that brings together senators and deputies to find a common version of the text.
“It is very practical for Michel Barnier. He plays with the senators and can say that he let the deputies debate at length,” emphasizes modem Richard Ramos.
Enough to allow him to continue showing the posture of a man of dialogue that he has been perfecting since his arrival in Matignon.
Towards “a collective democratic failure”
But the use of article 47, never used until now in the entire history of the Fifth Republic, could seriously raise the temperature in the Assembly.
“We need votes and debates.” Without this, “the French will wonder what the Assembly is for and all our democratic institutions would be weakened,” worries Renaissance MP David Amiel.
“It would be a collective democratic failure” if “we cannot finish” this first part of the finance bill, this former collaborator of Emmanuel Macron still laments.
Meanwhile, 49.3 remains on the table, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote. It would also have the merit of allowing you to continue adopting a listening posture. Its potential resource was approved this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, without this necessarily meaning that it will be well used.
A new puzzle next week.
49.3 or not this Saturday, the government copy should continue to be significantly revised in the coming hours. Without much mobilization from the presidential field, which oscillates between anger and frustration, the left is advancing its pawns.
Long-term taxes on very high incomes and not temporary ones as the Government wanted, new taxes on the wealth of billionaires… It is not that the left, which is mobilizing excessively during the session, does without some political victories .
However, they shouldn’t go too far. In the case of 49.3, the government can adopt any amendments it wishes for its own benefit. The enigma, however, is far from over: debates on the social security budget begin on Monday, with the ghost of 49.3 lurking there as well.
Source: BFM TV
