Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne once again activated the constitutional weapon of 49.3 on Thursday, to have the “revenue” part of the 2024 Social Security budget adopted without a vote, at second reading in the Assembly. “The financing bill of Social Security is the very heart of our social model. It brings together and protects the French. We cannot take the risk of depriving them of it”, justified the Prime Minister in a short declaration from the platform of an Assembly in sparse ranks. This is the 18th 49.3 used by Élisabeth Borne or on her behalf since her appointment to Matignon. This is the 7th since the resumption of parliamentary work at the end of September.
Motion of censure of LFI
The LFI group immediately announced the tabling of a motion of censure, which should, like the others, fail to obtain a majority of the votes of the deputies, which will allow the government to see this part of the text adopted, before a very probable new 49.3 on the “expenses” part. “Social Security is the largest public expenditure budget in the country. We could wait until the right of parliamentarians to decide on its resources is respected: this will not happen,” lament the Insoumis in the text of their motion.
This Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) provides for expenditure increasing by 3.2% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 254.9 billion euros. The “Secu” deficit, set at 8.8 billion euros in 2023 then 10.7 billion in 2024 according to the government’s latest forecasts, could reach 17.5 billion by 2027. The bill had was adopted Tuesday by senators in a substantially revised version.
A subamendment
If the government has essentially returned to the previous version, that of the Assembly, it has made two concessions on particularly sensitive points, Agirc-Arcco and franchises. Faced with the government’s desire to draw on the surpluses of the Agirc-Arcco pension plan to finance small pensions, MP Yannick Neuder (LR) tabled a sub-amendment guaranteeing that the funds of this plan will not be used “at title of financial solidarity within the retirement system”, but only to “participate in the balance of special regimes which have been terminated”.
Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau affirmed that the government would support this subamendment, proof of the government’s “confidence” in the social partners who manage this regime. Concerning medical deductibles, the Senate had decided to submit to the prior opinion of the social affairs committees the planned modifications to the amounts of deductibles or fixed contributions remaining the responsibility of policyholders for their health expenses. Mr. Rousseau expressed the government’s support for this proposal. “The government has backed down from our red lines,” welcomed the LR sur X group.