This text has already been rejected by the Assembly. The government’s only hope: that the National Rally abstains, as it has proposed.
Will the 49.3 season start this evening at the National Assembly? Autumn is the season for financial texts in the Assembly, generally rejected by all oppositions. The government could quickly engage its responsibility upon examination of the public finance programming project in the face of the rejection of oppositions, and despite a possible abstention from the RN.
>> EDITORIAL. Public finance programming law: the specter of 49.3 reappears
So, the government plans to trigger this article of the Constitution to pass its ‘public finance programming bill’, a text which defines a budgetary trajectory for the years to come and should in particular make it possible to unlock European aid. This text, not to be confused with the traditional State and Social Security budgets, must serve as a roadmap for the French budgetary trajectory over the period 2023-2027. in particular, it plans to reduce the public deficit from 4.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 to 2.7% in 2027, below the European objective of 3%, in a context where the debt burden is exploding.
This type of text was rejected by the oppositions last year, so to avoid another failure, the government could bring out the heavy artillery and take responsibility. The rebellious MP Mathilde Panot regrets this “passage by force”. “We are preparing in case the government wants to put a 49.3 on the programming law, since this law has already been rejected twice by the Assembly”she emphasizes, evoking a “definitely minority government”. Because this text, the entire left is opposed to it, but so are the Republicans ! There is no question for them of validating Emmanuel Macron’s financial choices.
The RN proposes to abstain so that the text passes
Only the National Rally plans to let the text pass by choosing abstention. Jean-Philippe Tanguy, deputy for the Somme, explains: “Bercy made us aware of the fact that, if this law was blocked, the entire European aid plan which remains to be paid to France would be blocked. We said that we were ready to abstain on this text if it was an issue of national interest.”
But will Macronie bank on the promise of the RN and go as far as the vote? “We cannot take this risk”believes the Renaissance deputy for Gers, Jean-René Cazeneuve. “Our country absolutely needs a programming law. If necessary, we will use 49.3”, further affirms this executive of the group. This would also prevent the government from having to pass this text solely thanks to the National Rally.