Guest of “Political Questions” Sunday October 1 on France Inter, the President of the National Assembly defended the use of article 49.3 of the Constitution, used once again by the Prime Minister for the bill for programming of public finances 2023-2027.
“The 49.3 allows us to avoid” the risk of “shutdown” as in the United States, defends Sunday October 1 on France Inter Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly and Renaissance MP for Yvelines. On Wednesday, in the first week of debates in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne activated article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the public finance programming law (LPFP) 2023-2027 adopted without a vote.
Yaël Braun-Pivet was in favor because “this text is important”. The use of 49.3 “was predictable” because “we have a relative majority and in a relative majority, to pass the budgetary texts, we need the tool of 49.3”, she says. To support her remarks, the President of the National Assembly takes the example of the United States “where we just avoided the shutdown”. An emergency measure was finally adopted to keep the US administration funded for 45 days.
“In 2018, the shutdown in the United States was three billion dollars in losses, it was estimated that one week of shutdown was 0.2 points less GDP. The 49.3 allows us to avoid that.”
Yaël Braun-Piveton France Inter
The elected official understands that this article of the Constitution “may hit” but, she underlines, certain texts find a consensus such as that aiming to “deconjugalize” the allowance for disabled adults (AAH) which comes into force this Sunday. “This text was adopted by 395 votes for and 112 votes against. So, we managed to find a majority with the Les Républicains group and the Liot group”she congratulates herself.
For the President of the Assembly, the majority “does not have partners who decide to make a lasting commitment to govern the country”. This is explained by our “system and our electoral history”according to her. “Each political party, each bloc does not wish to be part of a coalition logic because it aspires to replace the other, to become the majority on its own”analyzes the President of the Assembly.
A “large dose of proportional”
However, she believes that “many more things” bring together the presidential majority, “the social democrats, with a large fringe of Republicans”. As proof, she adds, “82% of texts are the subject of an agreement with the Senate. This is a figure that we have never reached.” Yaël Braun-Pivet is not in favor of full proportional representation but she “thinks that we should move to a large dose of proportional”. She sees two beneficial effects. Firstly, it would bring “a change of culture in our country” so that each party does not aspire “to become the majority on your own”. Then “a dose of proportionality ensures what we have today in the Hemicycle, that is to say a fair representation of all political tendencies in our country”.
The President of the National Assembly warns: deputies “cannot go back to another year with this hullabaloo which shocks fellow citizens and degrades the institution”. The debates were very tense, particularly during the examination of pension reform.
“They say that I am the one who has punished the most and I will continue. I will not let anything happen anymore because our compatriots cannot stand it”, warns Yaël Braun-Pivet. She specifies that “more than 90%” sanctions were addressed to the La France insoumise group.