The Minister of Public Accounts was the guest of France Inter. He defended a “responsibility budget”.
“We are not happy to use the 49.3”, Thomas Cazenave, Minister for Public Accounts, defended himself on Friday October 27 on France Inter, while the Prime Minister held the government responsible by triggering 49.3 on the revenue side of the social security financing bill. This is the third time since the resumption of parliamentary work in September.
“If there is no 49.3, there is no budget, so we would no longer operate, defends Thomas Cazenave. Our responsibility is to effectively use 49.3 and provide France with a budget. OHe has no choice. We are not going to run the risk of leaving the country without a budget before the end of the year. How are we going to finance our public services, our teachers, our police officers, our hospitals?” he asks.
“It’s a progress budget [] the only one possible”
La France insoumise and the National Rally have tabled motions of censure. The government has suffered sometimes contradictory criticism from the opposition “between those who tell me, ‘it’s the austerity cure’, and the others who tell me, ‘you are not cutting enough in public spending'”. According to the minister, “these positions are irreconcilable. The only budget that is possible is the one that we put on the table”he said.
The left opposition denounces a budget of“austerity” in the midst of a crisis in public hospitals. Thomas Cazenave assures, on the contrary, that “it’s a budget for progress”. He “will increase by 30 billion euros this year.
“I have the impression that since ‘whatever it takes’, everyone has lost orders of magnitude.”
Thomas Cazenave, Minister for Public Accountson France Inter
“We are increasing by 30 billion and we are being told: this is an unprecedented austerity cure,” he wonders. “On the other hand, there are limits and therefore my responsibility is also to pay attention to the balance of our accounts. And I think that this budget is a budget of responsibility, but of progress.”