with LFI, “there is a fundamental divergence on what we want to do”

Denying having preferred to negotiate with the National Rally (RN) than with the left, Michel Barnier, prime minister on reprieve, castigated, during a television interview on TF1 and France 2, Tuesday December 3, the attitude of the socialists. “They told me: “We’re voting for censorship anyway” before I opened my mouth,” he assured. Responding to these accusations, the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure, assures, on the contrary, in an interview with Monde, not have “never refused dialogue”. While voices are surprised, including in his own camp, that a party displaying its vocation to govern supports a motion of censure, Mr. Faure justifies the decision of the PS group in the Assembly by his deep disagreement on the budget . However, he stands out from La France insoumise (LFI), a group to which he is linked within the New Popular Front (NFP), refusing “to take refuge in a purely protesting attitude”. And projects itself into the post-Barnier era with “the permanent concern for compromise”.

You will vote to censure the Barnier government. No regrets?

Nothing was written. Michel Barnier could have reached out to the left. We have never refused dialogue, but everything has been refused en bloc. All. We took on the parliamentary debate by having our amendments adopted. The government could have accepted all or part of it. He didn't hold anything back. We are against this budget which makes the middle class bear the weight of a debt that successive Macron governments have helped to create, in particular through gifts to the wealthy. In seven years, the only thing that has fallen on the French is debt. We cannot be asked to approve a project whose injustice we denounce. If the situation is so unstable today, it is because of Emmanuel Macron's successive escapades which have led the country to the edge of the abyss.

What did you think of Michel Barnier's intervention on Tuesday evening?

I was stunned by the void in substance and the choice, one last time, to flatter the RN by denouncing the attacks of the left against the far right. Until the end, he was faithful to his desire to conclude a Faustian pact with Marine Le Pen. “Me or chaos” is a tired argument. Including scaring people by explaining that some taxpayers will pay more or that others will become eligible for income tax. This is not responsible. Indexing the scale of this tax to inflation is possible with the special law which will follow if the finance bill falls, and a amending bill is also possible in January. We have plenty of time since the 2025 tax will not be collected until 2026. Everything will be settled well before because all the deputies agree on this point.

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