The debate around the 2025 finance bill is experiencing some (expected) turmoil, with a first use of 49.3 by Michel Barnier on the social security budget. A decision which subsequently provoked the filing of two motions of censure by France Insoumise (LFI), in the name of the New Popular Front (NFP), and the National Rally (RN), placing the Prime Minister in an ejection seat . For these two motions to be effective, they must first be voted on, before being debated by the end of the week.
“By betraying the Republican front, Michel Barnier made the National Rally his exclusive interlocutor”
Estelle Mercier, MP
Since then, the first signatories have made themselves known. Starting with Estelle Mercier, PS deputy for 1re constituency of Meurthe-et-Moselle, which announces that the Socialists and Allies group, to which it belongs, will vote for the motion of censure tabled against the Barnier government, alongside the Socialists, Ecologists and Republican group in the Senate. “At the end of two months of budgetary debates, the socialists note the failure of the method of Michel Barnier who has, at no time, sought to establish dialogue with left-wing groups, nor seriously with certain groups of his own.” common base”. Worse, by betraying the Republican front, he made the National Rally his exclusive interlocutor,” said the elected official in a press release dated Monday, December 2. The MP fears the vote on a budget which would make “socially insured, sick and retired people pay”, which “weakens the hospital and does not take care of the challenges of the aging society”. She continues: “In the interest of French people, we will oppose it with all force.”
The deputy of the 5e constituency, Dominique Potier, also expressed his position, even if he remains more cautious in his remarks: “Until the last moment, I will hope that the Barnier government frees itself from its dependence on the extreme right and seeks an agreement with all political groups that aspire to stability and justice. Otherwise, in conscience, I will vote for censorship,” he indicated in a letter dated Tuesday, December 3.
A new Prime Minister?
The opportunity to put the debate around the legitimacy of the Prime Minister back on the table, with the left considering that it must be the political force represented, following the legislative elections of June 2024. “The socialists consider that the political solution allowing stability , the change of political course and the appeasement that the country needs is the appointment by the President of the Republic of a Prime Minister sharing the values of the left and committing to the priority projects of the New Popular Front, which arrived in head during the last legislative: purchasing power, pensions, defense of public services, climate emergencies, housing, social justice, etc.,” indicates Estelle Mercier in the same press release. And to recall “that no political force alone is in the majority” and that “the method must be that of compromise text by text as proposed in the summer”.
