“We are not intended to serve as a crutch for Mr. Macron”reacted Sunday, September 4 on franceinfo Othman Nasrou, vice-president of Les Républicains de la Région Île-de-France, to the proposal of Gabriel Attal, Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, discuss with parliamentarians on the 2023 budget to avoid using article 49.3 of the Constitution. Without a majority in the National Assembly, it will be difficult for the government to pass the budget without the votes of the opposition.
franceinfo: Are you going to take the government’s outstretched hand?
Othman Nasru: This is a proposal which, in reality, is not one because I do not see any major changes in Gabriel Attal or any desire to profoundly change the budgetary orientations of which he has moreover sketched a few lines recently and of which, moreover, I have only seen increases in expenditure and absolutely no savings measures. You don’t have to be in the posture. The fake outstretched hand, when we have no intention of changing policy. At the Republicans, we defend a certain number of options. When decisions go in the right direction, we support them. Otherwise, we oppose it. And this budget seems to be the translation of a policy that we do not support and that we will never support. And so, naturally, we are in opposition. We are not intended to serve as a crutch for Mr. Macron as soon as he needs it.
Isn’t this the opportunity to enter into a real consultation with the government?
It’s a tactical game on the part of the government. The budget clearly reflects a whole policy to which we cannot subscribe. The debt has increased by more than 600 billion euros and that two thirds of this debt is not due to the health crisis. Emmanuel Macron never wanted to attack major structural reforms, territorial reform, state reform. We asked for a plan to debureaucratize because there are savings to be made, which we can return to the French as lasting purchasing power. We have always had an end of inadmissibility on these subjects. How do you expect us to come to an agreement with this government? We must now stop this little game that is led by the government, which ultimately aims to install the extremes as the only possible oppositions. We have seen what happened to the legislative elections. You need stability, a course. We have a clear political line. It is not the government’s. We will be in opposition and we have no vocation to vote budget.
Voices among Republicans are in favor of a tax on super-profits. Is there a consensus in your party?
There is not a fee for every problem. Reacting with a tax logic, as soon as there is a subject, is a real difficulty. It is a very marginal subject. We are talking about a tax that could potentially bring in a few hundred million euros at the most in a state budget which today is in deficit up to 30%. In reality, you have subjects like that, very artificial, which are blown up by the government, which is failing on the real subjects which concern the French. Security, control of migratory flows, control of debt and the structural reforms that the country needs, particularly on work that does not pay enough. This is of course what we want to bring to the debate. Of course there are nuances here, but with this government. There are no nuances to the fact that we are in opposition.