There is “no risk of shutdown” in France in the event of a vote to censure the budget, declared the leader of the National Rally in the Assembly Marine Le Pen, this Tuesday, November 26, 2024.
The president of the National Rally group in the Assembly, Marine Le Pen, accuses in a column on Tuesday the government of broadcasting “fake news” as for the risk that civil servants will not be paid and public services blocked if France fails to adopt a budget in time for 2025.
“There is no risk of 'shutdown' in our institutions (…) contrary to what certain members of the government assert in unison”assures the far-right representative in Le Figaroin reference to the American situation where federal civil servants are not paid until a budget is adopted.
“Even in the event of censorship, taxes would be lifted, civil servants paid, pensions paid, and medical care reimbursed”she adds, while her party threatens to vote on the motion of censure that the left will present if the government uses 49.3 to have its State and Social Security budget projects adopted without a vote.
“It would be enough for the censored government to vote, as part of current affairs, a special law allowing at least the renewal of the 2024 budget, pending a new government and a formal finance law”specifies Marine Le Pen, nevertheless recognizing “a stopgap”. “The real risk for democracy is not 'shutdown': it's fake news!”she adds.
A financial crisis?
Several personalities belonging to Michel Barnier's coalition have in recent days warned of the risk of a financial crisis that would be caused by a fall of the government without prior adoption of a budget. Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said on Sunday that she feared “a Greek scenario”.
“If a motion of censure were passed tomorrow, it would be a regime crisis, a financial crisis which would throw France into the abyss, particularly the weakest”also estimated the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau.
The day after her first formal meeting with Michel Barnier at Matignon, from which she left empty-handed, Marine Le Pen also recalls that “the very purpose of voting on a budget is the democratic expression of a political project”. However, according to her, the government's draft budget does not correspond to the “clear choice in tax, security and migration matters” of the “eleven million RN voters”.
She criticizes “the lies” of previous governments on the situation of public finances, “even if it means disinforming by raising non-existent political risks”during the European and legislative election campaigns, and refuses to allow his party to become a “scapegoat” if he votes for censure.
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