Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne at the National Assembly in Paris, October 17, 2023 (AFP/JULIEN DE ROSA)
Elisabeth Borne on Wednesday engaged the government’s responsibility for the revenue part of the draft budget for 2024 through article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows adoption without a vote but exposes itself to a motion of censure, arguing that the country “needs” of this “fundamental text”.
The France Insoumise group immediately announced that it would table a motion of censure, which however has little chance of succeeding as long as the Republicans do not join in it.
“Today, the observation is clear: no opposition group is ready to vote for this finance bill. But our country needs this budget”, “keystone of our public policies”, justified the Prime Minister before the National Assembly, where she does not have an absolute majority.
The budget, “is the response to the concerns of French people. These are means for purchasing power, for full employment, for the ecological transition, for our public services and for the republican order”, she argued.
“Stop your blabla”, launched the RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy during the intervention of the Prime Minister who replied to him: “I do not know if you take a model, Mr. Deputy, on the other side of the hemicycle but that hardly advances the debate.” She was referring to the LFI group, which she considers not to be part of the “republican arc” of oppositions, just like the RN.
This is the thirteenth time that Ms. Borne has used this controversial constitutional weapon since her arrival at Matignon, in the absence of an absolute majority in the Palais-Bourbon.
She used it 10 times on budgets last year, once on pension reform and once on public finance programming on September 28.
She should use it around ten times across all financial texts.
Last year, the Prime Minister allowed the debates to take place for a week in the hemicycle.
But this time, she interrupted them even before examining the introductory article, which notably includes in the law the forecast of public deficit. It was rejected in committee, as was this entire revenue section.
© 2023 AFP
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