The French government has survived two no-confidence motions tabled by the left and right on Monday (24 October) following a bid to pass the budget bill without a vote, instead relying on a clause in the constitution.
Read the full story in French here.
To pass the budget, which includes measures to deal with the energy crisis and high inflation, French President Emmanuel Macron requires votes from other parties due to the results of the June 2022 elections.
Instead, the government used Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which would pass the bill without a vote, triggering no-confidence motions from both sides of the political spectrum.
“The president seems to have lost control of the situation,” said Rassemblement National leader Marine Le Pen in the run-up to the vote, pointing to “uncontrolled inflation, energy anxiety, rising shortages, the prospect of rationing.”
While one no-confidence vote from the left-wing NUPES bloc, led by far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon was to be expected, the second from Le Pen suggests more trouble lies ahead.
Calls to overthrow government fail
Le Pen said the government should be overthrown, but this seems unlikely as both motions failed to get votes from the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) and the Independent group (LIOT).
While Rassemblement National’s motion only received backing from 90 deputies, the one tabled by NUPES, which ultimately received backing from Le Pen’s party in a surprise move, was still 50 votes short.
“Because only the national interest guides its words and actions, the group I have the honour of chairing will also vote for the motion of censure presented in acceptable terms on the other side of the chamber,” she added, warning that “if tomorrow we have to go to the polls again, we are ready to do so.”
French lawmakers at loggerheads as budget talks intensify
Discussions on the French budget got off to a tense start in the National Assembly this week as the opposition dismissed the proposed fiscal plan as “austerity” and the government insisted that it protects households.
Failing to convince the right
But the words of Le Pen and the radical left leader did not manage to rally other right politicians in the assembly, particularly the LR group, which counts 62 lawmakers – including from related parties – which was the key to passing the motion.
But their refusal to join other opposition parties in bringing down the government was expected after 50 LR members co-signed an op-ed published in JDD Sunday (23 October).
“A motion of censure serves to note that the government does not have a majority. It is not a surprise,” said LR group President Olivier Marleix in front of the Assembly.
Independent lawmakers also refused to join other opposition parties in bringing down the government, with the group’s president saying that the use of article 49.3 is “always a political failure” and that he does not want “to add chaos to instability.”
The group said it could vote in favour of a new motion at the end of the debates.
A divided opposition
During the debates, the government suggested the left and the far right unite, but this was quickly shut down by Socialist group President Boris Vallaud, who said, “everything separates us.”
However, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she is concerned about the emergence of an “unholy alliance” between NUPES and the far-right, while thanking other opposition groups for making amendments that the government ultimately retained.
Recognising that the government does not have an absolute majority in parliament to back its bills, Borne urged the opposition not to deprive France of a budget and thus “expose our most fragile fellow citizens” and “the purchasing power of the middle classes.”
If the motion of censure had been adopted, the government would have fallen and the first part of the budget rejected.
Though the government will likely be successful at passing the budget this time, its need to rely on the opposition to pass laws, and the movement of the right against it, hint at many more future legislative headaches.
[Edited by Daniel Eck/Alice Taylor/Nathalie Weatherald]
French budget to be adopted without vote
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the revenue part of the French budget for 2023 would be adopted without a vote of the deputies due to political infighting and a lack of consensus.
On Wednesday, the prime minister announced the …
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Source: euractiv.com
