Unless the situation turns around, the deputies of the far-right group should not succeed in causing the resignation of the government of Elisabeth Borne.
It is a twist, one more, in the middle of two political weeks already very animated by the examination of the pension reform in the National Assembly. At the end of the afternoon, Wednesday February 15, Marine Le Pen announced the filing of a spontaneous motion of censure by all the deputies of the parliamentary group that she chairs. The goal, according to the leader of the deputies of the National Rally (RN), is to provoke a “parliamentary referendum” against the text of the government.
>> Pension reform: follow the day of inter-union mobilization and the examination of the text at the Assembly
Objective of the motion, positioning of the oppositions… Franceinfo answers five questions on the initiative of far-right deputies facing the executive and other political groups in this battle for pension reform.
1 What is a spontaneous motion of censure?
Defined in Article 49.2 of the Constitution, the spontaneous motion of censure differs from the provoked motion of censure, which is found in Article 49.3 and which has been used extensively by the various opposition groups since the month of June. The spontaneous motion of censure “results from the sole initiative of the deputies”, specifies the site vie-publique.fr, while the motion of censure caused is generated by the decision of the government to engage its responsibility on a particular text. In other words, the spontaneous motion occurs outside 49.3. A deputy cannot sign more than three during an ordinary parliamentary session, from October to June.
The two motions of censure actually have the same goal: to provoke the resignation of the government by putting it in a minority in the National Assembly. Today, the executive has a relative majority there, below the bar of 289 deputies out of 577. “Only the votes in favor of the motion of censure are counted, which can only be adopted by a majority of the members composing the Assembly”says the Constitution.
2 When will this motion of censure be debated?
The Constitution specifies that “the vote cannot take place until forty-eight hours after [le] deposit” of the motion. Filed Wednesday at 5:55 p.m., that of the RN cannot therefore be discussed before Friday, 5:55 p.m., or about six hours before the scheduled end of the debates on the pension reform in the National Assembly, which must take place at midnight. “I think our motion of no confidence will be considered Friday evening at midnight”explained Marine Le Pen, Thursday morning, at the National Assembly. “She won’t take time for the debate and we won’t be accused of being complicit with the government.”
3 What is the goal of the RN with this initiative?
“The motion of censure will serve as a vote on the law, for everyone”, assured Marine Le Pen, Thursday morning. The president of the RN group in the Assembly anticipates the fact that the deputies will not reach a vote on the pension reform, due to the very large number of amendments which remain to be studied. The motion tabled is, according to her, a way to see “who will be really opposed to the text”.
Because this is an objective of the RN: to force the other political groups of the opposition (the four groups of Nupes, Les Républicains and the independents of the Liot group) to position themselves clearly, despite the absence of a vote on the merits of the text, for or against government reform. What some fear: “If there is no vote in the Assembly at first reading, it’s better, because we are already avoiding to derail the group internally”hoped for a framework of the Republicans at the end of last week.
4 Will the RN’s motion of censure be supported by the other groups?
No. All the other political groups have ruled out voting for this motion of censure, as was the case with previous motions of censure tabled by the National Rally since last June. “We do not collaborate, in any way, with a far-right party”environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau said on LCP on Wednesday, while her colleague LFI Clémentine Autain explained that he was “out of the question for [son groupe] to be equated with a coagulated force on the far right”. For a Nupes executive, met by franceinfo on Thursday morning, the motion of censure is “a hell of a gift for the government”who will not be outvoted in the Assembly.
“The government forced the Assembly with this reform but, thanks to this motion, the message that emerges is: ‘We have confidence’.”
A member of the Nupesat franceinfo
5 Could other motions of censure be tabled?
The possibility is strong. “You will find out in due time”replied Wednesday to journalists Clémentine Autain about a possible motion of censure of the Nupes. “The question of the motion of censure may arise at the end of the text”, sketched the number one of the PS, Olivier Faure. The various groups on the left are currently considering the ideal timetable for the filing of such a motion. “We have to do it at the right time and we will try to be on the social movement”explains an ecologist deputy, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon called on opponents of the reform to “block everything” from March 7, the next day of inter-union and political mobilization after that of Thursday February 16.
If a motion of censure were tabled by the Nupes, the National Rally could support it, as it has already done on several occasions since June. The Republicans, whose official position is to support pension reform despite some upheavals within the group, would then find themselves in the position of arbiters against the government.