First hiccup, without consequence: the deputies rejected Tuesday in committee the draft budget programming law 2023-2027, a text of “steering” that the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal called for support and that the executive will redefine in the hemicycle.
The deputies of the Finance Committee rejected this text by 36 votes against 30. This vote will not prevent the arrival of the initial bill on October 10 in the Chamber of the Assembly where the executive must deal with the Absence of an absolute majority since the June legislative elections.
This programming text plans to reduce the deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2027 and to stabilize the number of civil servants over the entire five-year period. The left criticizes the government for a policy of austerity and the right for the lack of savings measures.
To be confirmed during the meeting, but this vote is a good sign before the budget marathon in the fall, welcomed LFI Chairman of the Finance Committee Eric Coquerel.
Gabriel Attal warned deputies on Tuesday about the risk of non-adoption of this 2023-2027 budget programming bill, which the National Assembly is considering before the 2023 draft budget.
Failure to adopt this text could lead to a delay, a delay, or even a reduction in the European funds paid to us as part of the recovery plan, said the Minister of Public Accounts before the Finance Committee.
A certain number of funds are conditional on the adoption of a public finance programming law, he underlined.
As on the other texts, the executive is confronted with the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly. And contrary to what it is preparing for the 2023 draft budget, the government does not intend to use article 49-3 of the Constitution – which allows adoption without a vote – for the programming law.
Because outside the finance bill and Social Security budget, the government can only use 49-3 once per session and it does not want to burn this cartridge from this programming law.
The executive therefore seeks abstention or support from the LR right.
The government had already suffered a hiccup on August 3, when the 2021 budget settlement bill was rejected, a usually fairly banal step to validate the accounts of the previous year. This time he would like to avoid such a mishap.
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The First President of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, had also warned about the legal consequences of a rejection of the programming law, resulting in trapeze without a net.
On the left, David Guiraud (LFI) noted the government’s trepidation on the subject.
On the far right, RN Philippe Lottiaux criticized the government for going under the caudine forks of the European Commission.
In the majority, the general rapporteur of the budget Jean-Ren Cazeneuve (Renaissance) called not to deprive oneself of the thermometer of the programming law. It would be asking France to drive in a tunnel without headlights.
A veteran of the budget, MP Charles de Courson (Liot) believes for his part that a rejection of the programming law would not change anything legally but that the government is politically scared with regard to Brussels.
In any case, from the second year, these programming laws are never respected, he adds with a smile.