After the rejection in the Assembly of a motion of censure LFI, equivalent to adoption at second reading of the revenue part of the Social Security budget, the Prime Minister once again activated 49.3, this time on the expenditure part and the entire text. This 26th motion of censure faced by the Prime Minister obtained 89 votes out of the 289 required to bring down the government. This rejection constitutes adoption at second reading of the revenue part of the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS).
In the process, Élisabeth Borne held the government responsible for the expenditure part of this budget and for the entire text. This is the 19th 49.3 used by Élisabeth Borne or on her behalf since her appointment to Matignon, the 8th since the resumption of parliamentary work at the end of September. The LFI group immediately announced the tabling of a motion of censure, which, like the others, should fail to obtain a majority of the votes of the deputies, which will allow the government to see the entire PLFSS adopted at second reading in the Assembly. . The text can then resume its legislative journey in the Senate.
“Gray authoritarianism”
In her speech in response to the rebellious motion of censure, Élisabeth Borne used a well-known argument, pointing out the need for France to have a budget, and the absence of an “alternative majority capable of governing”. “We need the Social Security financing bill to keep our social model alive,” she said later, drawing out 49.3, barely opening the debate on the spending part of the bill.
In their interventions, the oppositions followed one another to denounce the sidelining of Parliament, Aurélien Saintoul (LFI) denouncing for example a “grey authoritarianism based on the banality of the coup”, and Arthur Delaporte (PS) “the a threadbare spectacle” of the government’s “contempt” for Parliament, “a play with a worn-out plot that in fact generates real bitterness”. This Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) provides for expenditure increasing by 3.2% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 254.9 billion euros.
A deficit which could reach 17.5 billion euros by 2027
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. If the government has essentially returned to the previous version, that of the Assembly, it announced on Thursday two concessions on particularly sensitive points, Agirc-Arcco and franchises.
He thus accepted an LR amendment ordering that the surpluses of the Agirc-Arcco regime be used only to “participate in the balance of the special regimes which have been terminated”, and not “for financial solidarity within the retirement system”. Concerning medical deductibles, the Senate had decided to submit to the prior opinion of the social affairs committees the envisaged modifications on the amounts of deductibles or fixed contributions remaining the responsibility of the insured on their health expenses. The government supported this proposal.