In an electric atmosphere, the National Assembly dismissed, without any real surprise, the revenue component of the 2025 finance bill this Tuesday, at the end of the day. The text was rejected with 192 votes in favor and 362 against. “The government takes note of this rejection (…). A majority of deputies reject tax bludgeoning and cannot legislate against the law,” immediately reacted the Minister of the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin, after the vote.
« The culture of compromise and coalition was not seen. I regret it. Examination of the text in the Senate will make it possible to find amendments discussed in the National Assembly. This work was of no use “, he continued in front of a crowded hemicycle, after a question session with the government.
The Barnier government is therefore preparing to find a version of the text that it presented a month ago to the day after many postponements.
The government's gray areas on cuts in the 2025 budget
« Discontent » et « annoyance »
Between bitterness and dismay, the deputies have navigated through troubled waters since the resumption of the parliamentary session at the end of September. “ There is dissatisfaction with the preparation and presentation of the budget. The result is a rout for the government. The government played the discredit card on the National Assembly. There is real annoyance among the deputies », lamented, Harold HuwartMP and spokesperson for the Liot group.
« The conditions for examining this budget are scandalous. We saw a Trafalgar coup on the Social Security financing bill », added the MP Léa Balage El Mariky, spokesperson for the environmentalist group at the Palais Bourbon, during a press briefing. For David Amiel, EPR deputy from Paris and close to Emmanuel Macron, this text is “unworthy of what we owe to the French”.
« This parliamentary mess weakens our country at a time of global economic battle », Regretted the elected official.
The « common base » erased and divided
The absence of deputies from the common base (EPR, Horizons, MoDem, LR) on the benches of the National Assembly also marked the results of the first month of this parliamentary session. “ We wonder if these MPs are not in the stratosphere. It's a funny image that we give. We wonder where the deputies from the central bloc have gone. Our group is frightened by the desert at the National Assembly », Regretted the deputy (GDR) for Puy-de-Dôme, André Chassaigne.
“There was a gradual erasure of the central bloc, random converging votes which reflect a lack of preparation and coordination,” added Harold Huwart. Inscribed in the foundations of the Fifth Republic, “ rationalized parliamentarism is not suitable for a parliament without a majority “, he explained.
For Eva Sas, EELV deputy and member of the Finance Commission, this government “it has no basis, no legitimacy”. This Tuesday, several deputies expressed fears about the rise of “anti-parliamentarism” in France after this stormy month of debates. Regarding the palpable divisions, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal rejected the accusations on the drift of public finances before the Senate last Friday. Now an EPR deputy, he has repeatedly pointed out the responsibility of the current government in the deficit at 6.1% of the public deficit in 2024 after the hearing of Bruno Le Maire.
Deficit: Bruno Le Maire’s difficult “truth operation” in the Senate
Return to the original copy in the Senate
After this rejection, it is therefore the Senate's turn to regain control of this crucial budgetary text from November 25. Acquired by the right, the Luxembourg Palace should constitute a solid base for the Barnier government, contested in the ranks of the National Assembly since the beginning of October. The Prime Minister's strategy of avoiding drawing the criticized article 49-3 very early on apparently paid off.
Unlike former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the head of government let deputies debate several important amendments for weeks in the hemicycle and in Committee. But these maneuvers risk leaving traces in the National Assembly. “There were two very appreciated moments on the PLF: the declarations of Laurent Wauquiez on pensions and the fact that the Senate became the first chamber of Parliament”, joked Harold Huwart. For the general budget rapporteur, Charles de Courson (Liot) “this chaos could lead to a rejection of our fellow citizens”. Still on borrowed time in Parliament, Michel Barnier knows that his room for maneuver to avoid a possible 49-3 is particularly narrow.
Budget 2025: the specter of 49-3 looms over the National Assembly
