The New Popular Front, the right-wing group and part of the presidential bloc have renounced hundreds of amendments in recent hours, while a vote on the first part of the budget text should theoretically take place on Tuesday.
Since the start of the examination of the finance bill (PLF) for 2025, the National Assembly has experienced a number of parliamentary maneuvers to which it is accustomed. The latest took place on Thursday October 24 and Friday October 25, during budgetary discussions in a hemicycle at the center of the political game this fall. On the left, in the center, on the right… Faced with bogged down debates, several groups affirmed that they were withdrawing part of their amendments on this crucial text.
The president of La France insoumise (LFI) of the finance committee, Eric Coquerel, announced that the four groups of the New Popular Front (NFP) would withdraw a quarter of their amendments, or around 270. Together for the Republic (EPR, ex-Renaissance), chaired by Gabriel Attal, for his part withdrew “a hundred amendments”said MP David Amiel on Thursday afternoon. According to a parliamentary source contacted by franceinfo, Friday morning, the Right Republican group (DR, formerly Les Républicains) also withdrew around a hundred amendments on the first part of the PLF, devoted to revenue.
All share an identical objective: to speed up the examination of the text to go to the vote. “The four NFP groups will not be the ones to fail the 2025 budget review”assured four of their representatives to journalists on Thursday afternoon. David Amiel, on behalf of the EPR group, went in the same direction, asserting Thursday that he wanted “votes and debates”. Otherwise, “the French will wonder what the Assembly is for”pleaded the MP to journalists.
In this fierce parliamentary battle, time is running out. Certainly, the conference of presidents of the National Assembly has provided for the possibility for elected officials to sit on Saturday in order to debate this text, but “at the rate we are going, we will not be able to finish this first part of the PLF, which would be a collective democratic failure for all the deputies and for the entire National Assembly”said David Amiel on Thursday.
With more than 2,000 amendments remaining to be debated at the end of Friday afternoon, it is indeed possible that the debates would not be able to end on Saturday, or even Sunday, if the debates continued at the end of the weekend. In this case, the solemn vote, scheduled for Tuesday October 29 for this first part of the 2025 budget, will not be able to take place and the debates will have to resume on November 5. On Thursday, the rebellious Eric Coquerel accused the right and the presidential camp, the “common base” which makes up almost the entire government, of using amendments to avoid the vote.
“Clearly, everything is being done by the government and government groups to try to drag out the debates.”
Eric Coquerel, LFI president of the finance committee at the National Assemblyà l'AFP
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, vice-president of the National Rally group, also denounced “permanent obstruction” groups from the right and the center. “We are driven by a power that no longer exists”he castigated in the hemicycle.
The government rejects these accusations. In the current configuration, it could either use article 49.3, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote, or use article 47 of the Constitution, according to which, if the Assembly cannot decide first reading on a finance bill after forty days (i.e. here on November 21), the government refers the matter directly to the Senate.
For now, “Michel Barnier doesn’t want a 49.3”assures a close friend of the Prime Minister. For security reasons, the government still authorized the former European Commissioner for Brexit to use it on Wednesday. This solution would have two disadvantages in the eyes of the executive. First, a single use of this constitutional weapon may not be enough to pass the budget. Elisabeth Borne suffered from the numerous uses of this article to have the budgetary texts adopted in 2022 and 2023. “Michel Barnier wants to save himself ten 49.3s”believes he knows a framework of the “common base” in the National Assembly, especially since any 49.3 creates the risk of a motion of censure voted by coalition oppositions.
“The reality is that the oppositions are all hoping that we slam 49.3analyzes a ministerial advisor. They have just understood that we were going to go to the vote and that we would not put 49.3 on the first part of the PLF. So they cannot cry about the denial of democracy.” To counter this government strategy, left-wing groups could therefore be tempted to beat the government in votes, if the vote takes place. If the first part of the PLF 2025 was rejected, the initial text presented by the government on October 10 would then be sent to the Senate for examination.
“There will be a joint joint commission and then a single 49.3 over the entire text”predicts the person close to Michel Barnier. This commission, which brings together seven deputies and seven senators depending on the political balance of each chamber, would then be responsible in December for arriving at a final version of the text. With a composition favorable to the “common base”, it should in theory support the executive, which must maneuver skillfully in this fiscal autumn of all dangers.
