“We will look at which amendments will be included in the final text and which are not.” It is past 8 p.m., Sunday, October 16. Elisabeth Borne is sent to the TF1 set to clear up the rising social discontent, against a backdrop of fuel shortages. Incidentally, the Prime Minister does not escape questions on the other hot file of the government: the examination of the budget in the National Assembly and the famous question of amendments.
The outcome is known to all. 49.3, this constitutional tool that allows the government to force through, will be drawn. “We have no choice but to use it from the moment the oppositions say they will vote against [le budget 2023]“summarized a few days ago on franceinfo Aurore Bergé, the president of the Renaissance group. “The question to ask is not ‘if’, but ‘when'”she continued.
According to information from franceinfo, Elisabeth Borne will climb to the perch of the Palais-Bourbon on Wednesday October 19, the last day of the examination of the first part of the finance bill (PLF). The rules are clear: the head of government has the freedom to have the text she wishes adopted and to retain or not the amendments voted by the deputies.
“In total, between 80 and 100 amendments will be retained, which represents between 700 and 800 million euros” additional public spending in the 2023 budget, specifies a source within the majority. But, in times of relative majority, “it is not like it used to be”, summarizes a macronie adviser. The government is expected to turn to the new method of compromise that it has so much praised. “Compromise is not an empty word, it is an obligation”adds the same adviser.
On the side of the executive, it is ensured that the message was received five out of five. “We cannot go after 70 hours of debate to play the dialogue and retain nothing”, slips a minister to France Télévisions. “We will obviously take into account parliamentary work, it is absolutely key and at the heart of what we want to do”also promised Monday on Public Senate Franck Riester, Minister for Relations with Parliament. In concrete terms, those around him specify that he is “it is out of the question to represent the initial text”. “It was a presupposition from the start”we press again.
“The philosophy is obviously to keep as many amendments as possible.”
The entourage of Franck Riester, Minister for Relations with Parliamentat franceinfo
The text from the furnaces of Bercy will therefore not be that drawn by Elisabeth Borne. It remains to be seen which amendments will be retained at the end of the parliamentary work. Two meetings have already taken place last Thursday and Monday to address this crucial point. Around the table, in particular: the ministers in charge of the PLF, Bruno Le Maire (Economy and Finance) and Gabriel Attal (Public Accounts) as well as Franck Riester, the presidents of the parliamentary groups of the majority or the general rapporteur for the budget, Jean -Rene Cazeneuve. The oppositions were also approached, as revealed in the hemicycle Boris Vallaud. “I am one of the group chairmen who have been approached by the Prime Minister’s Office to find out which amendments we would like to save”, explained the boss of the Socialists in the Assembly. The deputy of the Landes closed the door to the head of government.
“It is not for us to comment on the future of amendments which have been sovereignly voted by a majority of this assembly.”
Boris Vallaud, president of the PS groupto the National Assembly
Failing to have a return of all the oppositions on the subject – some have not been solicited, as Marine Le Pen said –, the government sorts out according to its “compass”according to Franck Riester on Public Senate, namely “the control of public expenditure”. “We want to stay within the 5% deficit forecast for 2023”hammered the minister. “The constraint is real. The 5% rule is not theoretical, it is the red line”supports a member of the right wing of the majority.
The guardian of budgetary orthodoxy is known, in the person of Bruno Le Maire. “If we kept all the amendments, there would be 8 billion more expenses”, warned the minister on BFMTV on Monday. Result: the most expensive, voted against the advice of the government, but also the most symbolic, will not be retained. The “exit-tax”, the amendment of the Republicans which aims at the tax exile of entrepreneurs, should not be saved.
The conditional is not even appropriate for the amendment on “superdividends”, yet tabled by Jean-Paul Mattei, the boss of the MoDem deputies. “This one, we won’t keep it”announced Bruno Le Maire from the outset, judging him “deeply unjust”because it penalizes French companies and not foreign ones. In order not to lose face, the Minister of the Economy would have put his resignation in the balance on Monday, according to a source within the majority, confirming information from the Parisian.
The choice of the tenant of Bercy not to keep in the final text this amendment yet voted by 19 Renaissance deputies, including the deputy of Elisabeth Borne, set fire to the powder within the majority. “I think it’s not good at all. Especially when the government talks to us about co-construction”, scolds Philippe Vigier, MoDem deputy for Eure-et-Loire. His colleague from Gironde, Sophie Mette, is also surprised to “the radicalism of the government” in this decision making. But she prefers to wait until the end of the debates, Wednesday, to decide: “Elisabeth Borne said that she wanted to continue to exchange with the parliamentary groups, so let’s wait and see.” Some Renaissance deputies in favor of the taxation of “superdividends” are also up in arms. They regret the signal sent by the government and ensure that their position on this amendment is “locally acclaimed” in their constituencies.
“Personally, I find that it is not a good sign that is sent to our MoDem partners, and even less to the French.”
A Renaissance MPat franceinfo
Most of the recalcitrant deputies eventually fell into line so as not to add division to division. The boss of the centrists in the National Assembly, Jean-Paul Mattei, tried to defend his amendment on Monday, during a meeting with the other presidents of the majority groups in Matignon. But without really believing it either. “We can rework it”, he assured AFP to try to convince the government to keep his text. End of not receiving from Elisabeth Borne. “These exceptional distributions are not wise in the period (…) We do not solve problems alone in our corner. No bonus for solitary breakaways”she explained to parliamentarians from the Renaissance group on Tuesday.
Among the majority, this episode is relativized. “Political disagreements are part of life! We have to stay united, because we don’t want to make the bed of Mr. Mélenchon and his 29,000 demonstrators either!”confides Philippe Vigier, in reference to the march against the high cost of living which was held on Sunday at the call of the Nupes.
Among the other amendments rejected, we find all those from the National Rally and La France insoumise. “We have set a line which excludes the possibility of including amendments brought by the extremes”, confirms a source within the majority. A sorting that obviously regrets Philippe Ballard, RN deputy for Oise. “The government has only one word in its mouth: compromise. But when we get down to business, there is no one left”gets carried away the former journalist.
“Sometimes I wonder if I would rather go home. We work like crazy until 3 a.m., we table amendments and everything goes in the trash.”
Philippe Ballard, RN deputy for Oiseat franceinfo
On the side of Nupes, and more precisely of the socialist group, the hour is also with the desolation. “If no amendment voted against the government’s opinion is retained in the final text, it is really adding fuel to the fire”, cries Christine Pirès-Beaune, PS deputy for Puy-de-Dôme. His amendment allowing the establishment of a tax credit of up to 675 million euros for residents of nursing homes, adopted against the advice of the executive, will indeed not be retained. “It’s not not a stupid idea but it costs too much”confirms a framework of the majority.
The executive nevertheless plans to make a gesture towards the opposition by retaining several dozen amendments out of the 3,000 tabled in total, all political tendencies combined. This is the case of the amendment carried by the communist group on the restoration of the half share of widows of veterans or even the maintenance of VAT at 5.5% on surgical masks, defended by the Socialist Party and the deputy Valérie Rabault.
The Republicans are also doing quite well. Several of their amendments should be drafted: the increase to 13 euros in the amount of the price of restaurant vouchers, brought by the deputy LR Marc Le Fur and voted again against the advice of the government; exemption from the ecological penalty for volunteer fire engines; relief from “axle tax” applying to heavy goods vehicles and agricultural machinery. But it will be necessary to wait for the verdict of Elisabeth Borne at the perch so that everyone is fixed on what the final text of the 2023 budget really contains.