Unsurprisingly, the Senate rejected the proposed Social Security budget on Friday in a new reading, noting irreconcilable differences with the government which should use a new 49.3 in the National Assembly in the afternoon with a view to ‘a definitive adoption.
The senators, the right-wing opposition majority, swept aside this social security financing bill (PLFSS) for 2024 through a motion of prior rejection adopted by 286 votes to 38.
Bis repeated, lamented the general rapporteur Elisabeth Doineau, who sits on the centrist group. The parliamentary path was in fact identical to that of the year 2022 on this budgetary text: the government had to take responsibility in the Assembly to avoid the risk of an unfavorable vote, sidestepping the debates.
As for the Senate, it certainly examined the text in its entirety, adopted it with very extensive changes, but the government turned its back on most of its flagship measures.
Continuing the (parliamentary) shuttle would no longer be of much use, noted Ms. Doineau, highlighting fundamental and methodological disagreements, particularly on the financial trajectory proposed by the executive, which the Senate considered optimistic and worrying.
We must provide the country with a budget and our Social Security with resources, insisted the Minister of Health Professions Agns Firmin Le Bodo, however satisfied with a demanding and responsible dialogue with the Senate.
The government will now return the Assembly with this PLFSS, from 3:00 p.m. this Friday, with a final 49.3 expected, followed by a new probable motion of censure from the oppositions, which will be rejected unless there is a huge surprise.
In the Snat, both the right and the left rejected the text. Respecting the parliamentary debate means not pretending to lead it, the socialist Bernard Jomier was indignant.
The Scu deficit, now estimated at 8.7 billion in 2023, would reach 10.5 billion across all branches in 2024 (compared to 11.2 billion forecast in the initial text).
The government plans to contain Health Insurance spending +3.2%, thanks to savings on spending on medicines, analysis laboratories and even sick leave. The senators had removed this spending objective, considered disingenuous.
The Senate will still find some of its measures in the final text, such as the control of the contribution to the Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension scheme and the possible increase in medical deductibles (the rest charged to the insured for medicines and consultations).