“The oppositions know that they can give everything when we draw the 49.3”, sighs a parliamentarian from the majority. The 49.3. It is perhaps the most quoted article of the French Constitution, the one whose mere mention is enough to trigger fiery debates between political leaders. The loss of the absolute majority, during the June legislative elections, for Emmanuel Macron’s camp brings this constitutional tool back to the fore. It allows the government to force its way through the National Assembly. No vote, the text is directly adopted. But his appeal is now framed and not without political risk. Franceinfo gives you everything you need to know about 49.3.
What is 49.3?
49.3 refers to article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, which allows the “Prime Minister, after deliberation by the Council of Ministers” to engage “the responsibility of the government before the National Assembly on the vote of a bill of law of finance or financing of social security”. In this present case, the “draft is considered adopted, unless a motion of censure, tabled within the following twenty-four hours, is voted under the conditions provided for in the preceding paragraph”. It is stipulated that “the Prime Minister may, in addition, use this procedure for another bill or a bill per session”.
The wording of section 49.3 as we know it is actually relatively recent. Since the constitutional reform of July 23, 2008, the use of 49.3 is limited whereas previously the government could use it as often as it wished and on any text. From now on, the executive must content itself with having recourse to it only on the budgetary texts and on one text per session, which drastically limits its use.
Why is this tool politically risky?
By using 49.3, the government risks a motion of no confidence. The deputies have twenty-four hours to reply by collecting 58 signatures, so that the text is debated within forty-eight hours after its tabling. Two possibilities then open up: if the motion of censure fails to obtain an absolute majority, fixed at 289 votes, the text of the government is adopted without a vote. If the motion of censure is adopted, it leads to the resignation of the Prime Minister and his government.
This has never happened before under the Fifth Republic. At least not in this form. Only one motion of censure has been adopted since 1958 but it was a so-called spontaneous motion of censure, not consecutive to the use of a 49.3. On October 5, 1962, the deputies overthrew the Pompidou government to oppose General de Gaulle’s decision to establish, via a referendum, the election of the President of the Republic by direct universal suffrage. The latter had dissolved the National Assembly in stride.
If the use of 49.3 has never led to the overthrow of a government, it has become a symbol for muzzling the opposition of democratic debate. Each time he is agitated by a government, the critics fuse on the benches opposite. “49.3 is brutality. 49.3 is a denial of democracy. 49.3 is a way of slowing down or preventing parliamentary debate”, had denounced François Hollande in 2006 during the debates on the first employment contract (CPE). Before using it in turn once in power.
How was 49.3 used?
Michel Rocard is the Prime Minister to have used 49.3 the most under the Fifth Republic. Between 1988 and 1991, under the seven-year term of François Mitterrand, the socialist used it 28 times, recalls the site of the National Assembly, out of a total of 89 uses since 1958. At the time, Michel Rocard did not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly but only a relative majority.
FLOURISH GRAPH
Since Emmanuel Macron came to power, the government has only used 49.3 once. At the end of February, Edouard Philippe had drawn this constitutional tool to pass the pension reform, which had finally been abandoned because of the health crisis.
Why are we going to hear a lot about it in this legislature?
The relative majority puts 49.3 at the center of the parliamentary game. Emmanuel Macron, having lost his absolute majority at the Palais Bourbon in June, should use this tool much more than under the previous legislature. But unlike the time of Michel Rocard, the President of the Republic will have to make choices since the use of 49.3 is now supervised. Even if on the budgetary texts, there is no limit.
The finance bill for 2023 (PLF) should be an opportunity for Elisabeth Borne to draw, for the first time in the legislature, 49.3. The oppositions have indeed announced that they will not vote on the budget, an eminently political text which determines the government’s priorities in terms of public policies. “The question is not whether we use 49.3 on the PLF but when since there is no question of not having a budget for France”summarizes a framework of the majority.
Another text could also be the subject of a 49.3: pension reform. Nupes and RN will vote against for sure, but LR’s position is still uncertain. An abstention from the Les Républicains group could allow the adoption of the text, but a vote against on their part would result in its rejection. This is why the government is not ruling out the possibility of passing its reform via an amending social security finance bill (PLFSSR). A text whose budgetary nature would allow the executive not to “grill” its 49.3.