A quack for the majority. Members of the committee financesrejectedTuesday, October 4, the 2023-2027 budget planning bill by 36 votes against 30. This text, a kind of government “roadmap” for public spending, notably plans to bring the deficit below 3% of GDP by 2027. But theare elected from left criticize the government for a policy “austerity”while those on the right regret the lack of savings measures.
This rejection will not prevent the arrival of the initial bill on October 10 in the hemicycle of the Assembly, where all the deputies will this time be put to the vote. But, symbolically, it is a defeat for the government, which does not bode well. ahead of the autumn budgetary marathon.
The Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, had warned the deputies on Tuesday of the risk of “non-adoption” of this bill. That “could lead to a delay, a delay, or even an amputation of the European funds paid to us as part of the recovery plan”said the Minister before the Finance Committee. “A certain number of funds are conditional on the adoption of a public finance programming law”he pointed out. Pierre Moscovici, the first president of the Court of Auditors, had also expressed his fear of potential “legal consequences” of such a rejection, during his hearing before the Finance Committee at the end of September, report The echoes (article reserved for subscribers). Obviously unsuccessful.
“In any case, from the second year, these programming laws are never respected”, sweeps the opposition MP Charles de Courson, veteran of the Finance Committee. According to him, the rejection in the hemicycle of the programming law “would change nothing” legally, but the government has politically “the fear of Brussels”. “It is a very important document for our European credibility” because it explains “how we manage to reduce our deficit”for his part estimated Jean-René Cazeneuve, Renaissance deputy and rapporteur for the budget at the National Assembly, Tuesday on franceinfo.
An additional difficulty for the executive, the latter has been confronted since this summer with the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly. And contrary to what it is preparing for the 2023 draft budget, the government does not intend to use article 49-3 of the Constitution – which allows adoption without a vote. – for the programming law. This tool cannot be used only once per parliamentary session, excluding the finance bill and Social Security budget. However, despite its name, the budget programming law is not a finance law. Grilling the cartridge of 49-3 for this text would therefore be too risky, while major reforms are in the drawers – from unemployment insurance to pension reform. The executive therefore seeks abstention or support from the LR right, or even from the PS.
“We are in a logic of dialogue. I hope that the deputies come to their senses and vote for this programming law that we absolutely needthus launched, Jean-René Cazeneuve, on franceinfo. I have the feeling that the LRs are voting more and more like the National Rally and that the Socialist Party is voting more and more like rebellious France. (…) This is not a vote of responsibility on their part.”