“I reached the end of the dialogue. We are at a moment of truth. » Right in his boots, Michel Barnier therefore, this Monday, December 2, engaged the responsibility of his government by activating article 49.3 of the Constitution on the Social Security finance bill (PLFSS). With this nuance that by acting in this way, he also started the countdown to his very probable end at Matignon. Because, in the process, if the New Popular Front (NFP) confirmed the tabling of a motion of censure, Marine Le Pen, above all, lifted the veil on her intentions: while she had been agitating for several days the prospect of government censorship, she will carry out this threat and press the button. Or even twice rather than once.
If the votes of the left and the RN add up, this united front should leave the Prime Minister no chance
Indeed, if the National Rally (RN) has also tabled a motion of censure, it will not just vote for it. He will also support that coming from the left. Unless the situation changes, Wednesday or Thursday, the voices of the RN will therefore mix with those of the NFP. A mixture of genres which poses no problem to Marine Le Pen, as she indicated with a smile as she left the Chamber: “This is not the motion of the left. The motions of censure tabled are motions of censure of the government […] So wherever these motions come from, we will vote on them. » If the votes of the left and the RN are added together, this united front should leave no chance for the Prime Minister to overcome this ordeal.
Concessions
However, Michel Barnier spared no effort to try to convince the former presidential candidate, even continuing his discussions with her until the end of the morning, going so far as to send, shortly after 10:30 a.m., a press release in the form of a final outstretched hand. In this text, the Prime Minister renounces the project of dereimbursement of medicines which was in the pipeline.
Better, he assumes without any ambiguity to offer the political gain of this renunciation to the leader of the RN deputies in the National Assembly: “Numerous requests have been expressed on this subject, it is written. Mme Marine Le Pen, on behalf of the National Rally, reminded the Prime Minister this [lundi] morning again during a telephone exchange. » The tenant of Matignon would have liked to indicate that she was his privileged interlocutor and he could not have been clearer.
Result, here is Michel Barnier at the mercy of what he has continued to denounce: “the alliance of opposites”
But did he still need to be reminded? Indeed, this concession made to the RN is not the first. On Thursday, when the Prime Minister announced that he was renouncing the increase in taxes on electricity, he was already responding to a demand from the far right. However, neither this setback nor that on medicines has affected the determination of the RN, which was also waiting for the government to abandon its plan not to index pensions to inflation on 1is January. All morning, Marine Le Pen reiterated this requirement. But the dismissal addressed to him by Michel Barnier on this point hastened the end of the discussions.
“It’s up to you”
However, at the podium, Laurent Saint-Martin, the Minister in charge of Public Accounts, assured: “We are protecting the purchasing power of retirees. All pensions will be significantly upgraded from 1is January. And we will make an additional effort for small pensions in the summer, the level of which will indeed be indexed to inflation. » Insufficient, responded a little later Edwige Diaz, the deputy for Gironde and number two of the RN: “Indexing pensions to inflation represents a cost of 4 billion euros, but the revaluation proposed by the government does not represent '' that'' 500 million euros. There is a shortage of 3.5 billion for retirees, this is not acceptable. And all the less since the concession made on medicines represents 600 million euros out of a Social Security budget of 640 billion… The government did not want to listen to us. »
As a result, here is Michel Barnier at the mercy of what he has continued to denounce: “the alliance of opposites” between the left and the RN. But if the government falls, France will still have no budget.
It is this dizzying risk that the Prime Minister highlighted during his speech at the National Assembly: “It is now up to you to decide whether our country adopts responsible financial texts or whether we are entering uncharted territory. Everyone must take responsibility. » This is called going all-in.
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