After a ministerial meeting on Monday January 13, PS MP Philippe Brun believes he has “participated in a farce” and denounces a budget which will “aggravate the crisis”. Tuesday morning, party boss Olivier Faure finally reported progress “in recent hours”, ensuring that an agreement with François Bayrou was still possible.
The Socialist Party blows hot and cold when it comes to an agreement with the government to avoid censorship. Monday at the end of the day, through the voice of the deputy for Eure and vice-president of the Finance Commission Philippe Brun, the party said it was not at all satisfied with the negotiations with the government relating to the 2025 budget. “We are being offered a budget which will worsen the crisis we are experiencing today and will not resolve the difficulties that the French are experiencing”deplored Philippe Brun on the set of BFMTV.
While the Prime Minister is eagerly awaited for his general policy speech to the National Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, negotiations to obtain a non-censorship agreement from the government continued on Monday afternoon, including a meeting between ministers. of Labor, Economy and Public Accounts, namely Catherine Vautrin, Éric Lombard and Amélie de Montchalin, with socialist negotiators. “What was presented to us earlier at the meeting? Well it’s neither more nor less than Michel Barnier’s budget but worse, with even fewer taxes for the very, very rich “ et “a certain number of credits which will decrease for certain essential missions”lamented the elected socialist.
No suspension of pension reform?
-And as for pension reform, an issue at the heart of discussions and attention, the ministers indicated that there would ultimately be no suspension of the text. “This afternoon we were told: ‘No, ultimately there will be no suspension, only a big discussion’”reported Philippe Brun. The MP said he had “the impression of having watched a bad comedy“and to have”participated in a prank“. Under these conditions, “as it stands, obviously, as there is no agreement, we are voting for censure” after the general policy speech, he said.
Olivier Faure assures that an agreement is still possible
But the situation turned around on Tuesday morning. During his appearance on the set of the BFMTV morning show, the boss of the Socialist Party, Oliver Faure, finally reported significant progress during a meeting on Monday evening in Matignon with François Bayrou. “What I see is that between yesterday at 2 p.m. and midnight last night, things have progressed a lot and we are perhaps a stone’s throw away, a few hours away from a possible agreement.” He assured that for the moment, no agreement had been reached, but that discussions with the Prime Minister continued by telephone and that the PS had “makes a proposal“to the government.”If the Prime Minister definitively accepts it, it is up to him to announce it“, specified Olivier Faure, without revealing more about the content of this proposal.
