The president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly Eric Coquerel accused the government on Tuesday of having opted for a “pure and hard” 49-3 on the first part of the draft budget for 2024.
Despite its promises to retain more amendment proposals from the oppositions than in 2022, the executive passed in force with a straight 49-3 which, like last year, takes up some cosmetic measures, judged the deputy of La France insoumise during a meeting organized by the Association of Economic and Financial Journalists (Ajef).
If the use of this article of the Constitution, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote, had been in effect for a long time, the government initially boasted of preparing a soft 49-3, that is to say integrating proposals coming from Parliament, assured Eric Coquerel.
It was all about communication, judged the MP six days after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced recourse to 49-3 on the first part of the finance bill for 2024, devoted to revenue.
The share buyback is a good symbol, he said.
In March, President Emmanuel Macron asked the government to work on an exceptional contribution, levied on large companies buying back their own shares with their profits rather than sharing their profits with their employees.
In the end, we have an amendment proposed by (MoDem deputy) Jean-Paul Mattei, largely in the majority in committee, which proposes to tax share buybacks at 1%, which is still not a breeze, observed Eric Coquerel on Tuesday.
But the presidential camp ultimately preferred to retain in the text adopted by 49-3 an amendment which legitimizes share buybacks, under the pretext that a small part will be returned to employees. In fact, we are legitimizing a process that the President of the Republic denounced a few months ago and in which he asked to intervene, the deputy fumed again.
More generally, Eric Coquerel castigated a budget which solves nothing: neither the objectives of the government, nor the needs of the French.
This government will not achieve a 4.4% deficit in 2024 – the objective included in the finance bill. We will certainly be closer to 5%, he concluded a few hours before the start of the examination of the second part of the budget by the Finance Committee.