The National Assembly largely rejected this Friday a motion of censure by the Insoumis deputies, once again supported by the National Rally but deprived of socialist votes, allowing the executive to close a first chapter of stormy budget debates. Responding to the fourth use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the motion won only 188 votes, far from the absolute majority of 289 deputies.
Considered by the Senate from November 17
Its rejection is worth adoption in first reading of the whole of the budget for 2023 of the State, as already last Monday that of the Sécu. The draft budget thus passes to the Senate, which will examine it from next November 17 in session, in a version remodeled by the government.
The vote took place this Friday evening in a hemicycle still shaken by the outcry around the remarks of an elected RN against an Insoumis colleague, deemed racist by the vast majority of deputies, and which earned him an exclusion. of 15 days. The far-right group, which chose not to table its own motion this time, however brought its votes to those of LFI. A motion “is not the approval of a political project”, justified MP RN Laure Lavalette. This support has not failed to fuel the denunciations by the presidential majority of a “collusion” of the left with the far right.
“I do not confuse La France Insoumise and the National Rally”, launched Elisabeth Borne in the hemicycle. But, after the “abject insult” of the RN deputy, “the voices of the RN will join those” of LFI “once again”, she lamented just before the vote, judging that “the rebellious ambivalence reaches its climax.
51 votes missing among the 151 Nupe deputies
The LFI deputies had taken care to specify in their motion that their “project” and their “vision of society” “place them in frontal opposition with the far right”. “There must be no facade opposition, none of us must serve as a lifeline for this government”, however launched to “all parliamentarians” the rebellious Jean-Hugues Ratenon, at the opening of the debates, urging not to fear “dissolution blackmail”.
No socialist, however, brought his voice to the LFI motion, “so as not to trivialize its use”, argued their speaker Jérôme Guedj. In total, 51 votes were missing among the 151 Nupes deputies (PS, EELV, PCF, LFI). The motion had in any case no chance of being adopted, for lack of support from the LR deputies. “If we deem it useful when the time comes, we will file our own motion of censure,” assured MP LR Véronique Louwagie.
In their text, the Insoumis accused the government of “contempt for parliamentary power”. In addition to a budget deemed insufficient, they castigated the fact that the executive, deprived of an absolute majority, rejected many amendments that the oppositions had succeeded in getting adopted. The Prime Minister defended her text tooth and nail, highlighting “massive means to achieve full employment”, “major investments for ecological transition”, and budget increases for the sovereign ministries. She also assured that she had taken into account certain votes of the Assembly.
A remodeled budget
In the “expenses” part, the executive mainly retained amendments made by the presidential camp, such as the increase in salaries for those accompanying disabled students or support for emergency accommodation. But he notably dismissed the 12 billion euros for the thermal renovation of housing, voted against his opinion.
In the “revenue” part, the government has also rejected the amendments voted, such as that of the PS for a tax credit for all residents in Ehpad. He had not retained either an amendment for a taxation of “superdividends”, a proposal from his ally Modem who had gathered support from the opposition and even within Renaissance.
The government justifies the sorting carried out by the “irresponsible” nature of several votes. According to Elisabeth Borne, certain measures would thus have had the effect of “abolishing”, by depriving it of financing, the “tariff shield”, the flagship measure of the draft finance law intended to limit increases in regulated gas prices to 15% and electricity. According to the left, the government could have found new funding.