Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly on October 11, 2022 in Paris (AFP / Thomas SAMSON)
The presidential camp suffered a series of setbacks on Wednesday from the start of the examination of the 2023 budget measures in the Assembly, under the ever more significant shadow of a triggering of article 49.3 of the Constitution.
From the outset, the opposition succeeded in rejecting at first reading, by 192 votes to 175, the “introductory” article of the finance bill (PLF), in which appeared the key objective of containing the public deficit at 5% of GDP in 2023.
“You have come together Nupes, National Rally, LR, to deprive France of any course”, denounced the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal, after this first disappointment which announced others.
Against the advice of the government, the deputies then largely adopted an amendment (227 votes for, 88 against) aimed at dissuading large companies from distributing exceptional results in the form of “super-dividends”, by means of a mark-up the taxation of this income, temporarily increased from 30 to 35%.
The text was able to be voted in particular thanks to the support of the left political groups members of the Nupes and that of the RN. But it also cracked the majority camp, since it was proposed by the Modem and received the support of around twenty Renaissance deputies, while the deputies of the Horizons group mostly abstained.
– “Sword of Damocles” –
Shortly before the opening of the session at the Palais Bourbon, the Council of Ministers authorized the government to activate the famous article 49.3, a constitutional weapon allowing a text to be adopted without a vote, except for a motion of censure.
It will only be used “if the situation requires us to use it”, insisted government spokesman Olivier Véran.
“We already see the sword of Damocles dawning”, launched in the Assembly the deputy Boris Vallaud, leader of the socialists. “How long do you leave for parliamentary debate?” he asked the government.
“We will take all the time necessary” for an “in-depth debate”, assured the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, even if “there will come a time when there will have to be a budget for France”.
Too expensive for the right, “austerity” for the left, “subject” to Brussels according to the RN: the oppositions have ruled out supporting this budget, one of the flagship measures of which is the “tariff shield” of 45 billion euros to limit increases in regulated gas and electricity prices to 15%.
If the use of 49.3 seems inevitable, for lack of an absolute majority, the presidential camp is torn between the desire not to appear as closed to the debate and that of “shortening the suffering” in the face of oppositions which “will vote against everything”.
The leader of the National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen at the National Assembly, October 11, 2022 (AFP / Thomas SAMSON)
While waiting for the ax to fall, the only relative majority available to the Macronists exposes them to defeat.
Among those registered on Wednesday, the deputies adopted, against the advice of the government, another amendment of the Modem, creating a status of real estate investor. The latter would make it possible to opt for the Single flat-rate levy (PFU) for property income, in return for the owners’ commitments.
– Which text adopted by 49.3? –
Still against the opinion of the government, the opposition succeeded in adopting (174 votes for, 156 against) an amendment on restaurant vouchers, raising the maximum amount of the contribution that employers can make for their acquisition by their employees.
Amendments from the left aimed at making the income tax “more progressive” have however been rejected. Just like those of the RN proposing “to exempt from income tax any young Frenchman under the age of 30 receiving less than 2,000 euros net”.
“Will you respect national representation?” Asked the rebel Alexis Corbière, urging the government to say clearly whether the text it would have adopted by 49.3 would or would not contain the amendments adopted against its opinion.
The Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal at the National Assembly, October 11, 2022 (AFP / Thomas SAMSON)
The government has full latitude on this point. “We can return to the initial text, withdraw adopted amendments, include amendments not yet discussed”, recalls a Renaissance parliamentary source.
On Tuesday, the oppositions had already partly unraveled another budget text, rejecting several key articles of the 2023-2027 budget programming law.
© 2022 AFP
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