It is the end point of an autumn punctuated by ten recourse to the constitutional weapon of 49.3.

Parliament adopted the draft 2023 state budget on Saturday, December 17, after the rejection of a final motion of censure from the left in the Assembly.

In a sparse hemicycle, the Nupes coalition crushed a "bad budget which responds neither to the social emergency nor to the ecological emergency", and above all a cycle "which will have damaged democracy" by the repeated use of 49.3 .

"We ask you to leave," asked David Guiraud (LFI) to Elisabeth Borne.

But their motion received only 101 votes, far from an absolute majority (288 votes).

In two months, the government will have triggered Article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution ten times, in order to pass the State and Social Security budgets without a vote.

Such a pace had not happened since 1989, when Prime Minister Michel Rocard was deprived of an absolute majority at the Palais Bourbon, like Elisabeth Borne since the June legislative elections.

Twelve motions of censure this fall

In total, 12 motions of censure were defended this fall, i.e. more than "under Michel Rocard, Édith Cresson and Pierre Bérégovoy combined", noted the Prime Minister, wondering about the reasons for "such relentlessness in wanting to do fall the government". 

"It is undoubtedly to hide a certain embarrassment" because "this text responds to the aspirations of the French, the needs of the most precarious, the expectations of communities and businesses, support for our public services", estimated Elisabeth Borne.

In a stormy atmosphere, she also tackled LFI's "lessons of democracy", at a time when several executives of the left-wing movement are sharply contesting the composition of the new leadership of the Insoumis.

Neither the right nor the extreme right supported this final motion.

"The motions are decoys", launched Lionel Tivoli (RN), Véronique Louwagie (LR) arguing that "the interest of the country remains our only compass".

But the LR group will seize the Constitutional Council, judging the finance bill "insincere" and the right of amendment "not respected".

The Nupes will do the same.

"Democratic denial"

For their part, 144 elected environmentalists signed a column in the JDD, denouncing "the democratic denial of the government" and asking the State to give more "room for maneuver to communities" whose finances are in "an untenable situation ( ...) exacerbated by inflation and the exponential cost of energy".

Among the flagship measures of the budget: a tariff shield to contain the rise in energy prices to 15%, salary increases for teachers and priority for sovereign ministries.

The debate focused on calls from the left and the RN to tax the "superprofits" of large companies such as the oil company Total or the shipowner CMA CGM.

Nupes and the extreme right demanded a broad tax.

The executive opposed them to an agreement sealed at European level with in particular a cap on the income of electricity producers, likely to bring in an additional 11 billion.

The tension crystallized on amendments voted by the Assembly, but set aside by the government in the version of the budget submitted to 49.3.

This is the case of a measure proposed within the majority, by the MoDem, to increase the taxation of "super dividends" of shareholders of large companies, and which had received broad support from the opposition.

The government rather favors avenues to promote profit-sharing or the "employee dividend".

The executive, on the other hand, integrated at the last minute an amendment establishing a financial participation of employees when they use their personal training account (CPF), causing a stir even in the majority.

With AFP

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