Paris (AFP)
To the rescue of tourism, the automobile and even aeronautics: the National Assembly seizes on Monday a third budget rectified in the face of the "unprecedented crisis" of the coronavirus, the left and part of the majority wanting to impose ecological and social conditions.
The subject of more than 2,000 amendments, the bill, on the menu at the end of the afternoon and for the whole week, expects a historic recession of 11% of GDP in 2020, a deficit that is still widening (11.4 %) and a public debt which swells to 120.9% of GDP. And the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire anticipates the elimination of "800,000 jobs" in the coming months.
In his report which accompanies the text, the deputy Laurent Saint-Martin (LREM) thus describes a "recession without precedent in its intensity, which can be erased only at the cost of a consistent and sustained public effort".
And the forecast remains very uncertain. Secretary of State Agnès Pannier-Runacher has already mentioned for "September" the presentation of a fourth rectified budget, which could incorporate broader stimulus measures.
Because this amending finance bill N.3 provides above all for "sectoral support and emergency plans": 18 billion euros for the tourism sector, one of the most affected by containment, 15 billion euros in support of aeronautics or the eight billion euros of the automobile plan.
This "PLFR 3" must also endorse 4.5 billion euros in state support for local authorities, when their revenues are melting with the crisis.
For the most affected sectors, the government releases around 45 billion euros. And he claims since the beginning of the crisis a total support of "460 billion euros", if we integrate the loans or the simple guarantees of the State.
It is "a big text", a "taste" of the autumn budget, estimates the general rapporteur Laurent Saint-Martin (LREM).
This Val-de-Marne MP expects "long debates on the sectors of activity that must be saved as a priority", and heated discussions on ecological counterparts to public aid, pushed in particular by the left and the Environmental NGOs. "On this, we don't all have the same opinion in the majority," he acknowledges.
"This is not the time to lay down conditions for emergency cash flow measures", laments an LREM figure, confident however to find "common ground", with conditionality for certain large companies.
Aware of the issue, the government has stepped up interventions on this subject. Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari recently insisted on the environmental conditions of the Air France rescue plan. And the abolition of domestic airlines in France, when there is an alternative train in less than two and a half hours, will apply to all companies, he said.
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Forty deputies, including the majority, also called for incorporating from this PLFR 3 certain measures proposed by the Citizen's Climate Convention.
During a meeting at the Elysée with the 150 members of this convention, Emmanuel Macron however announced Monday a specific bill on the subject at the end of the summer.
Faced with the crisis in the building sector, an amendment to the government budget should also debate the environmental plan: he wants to postpone for one year the removal of a tax benefit on non-road diesel (GNR).
This third rectified budget will also be an opportunity for the left opposition to return to the charge for the reinstatement of the solidarity tax on wealth. A debate of "rear guard", in the eyes of the government, which excludes any tax increase.
On the right, Eric Woerth (LR) criticized the measures "too fragmented" of this budget, without "overall vision", and urged the government to accelerate on its overall recovery plan, planned for the start of the school year.
During debates in committee this week, MEPs voted in particular in favor of extending the "Macron bonus" that companies can pay to their employees, by extending the deadline from August 31 to December 31.
This bonus of up to 1,000 euros, exempt from social security contributions and tax deductions, was created in late 2018 to respond to the anger of the "yellow vests".
The government could also propose incorporating new measures into this text, particularly in favor of small businesses.
adc-parl / ggy / rhl
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