Heated French budget examination to resume next week
It comes after MPs adjourned after six days of debate at the weekend
Debates will resume in the chamber after six days of previous debate were adjourned
Victor Velter/Shutterstock
Debates on the new French budget - which are likely to be intense - are set to resume in the Assemblée nationale from November 5, the budget minister has announced.
It comes after MPs adjourned after six days of debates on Saturday, October 26, without having finished their examination of the controversial bill.
But Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin has now confirmed that debates on the draft budget will continue on November 5. He told Radio J on Sunday, October 27: “We'll be continuing where we left off yesterday.”
The minister hinted at the likely intensity of the debates to come, and called for “a little rationality”. He said that the government wanted “the debates to take place with respect for Parliament”.
“We will see how the National Assembly votes [and] how the Senate debates it too,” he added, in response to a question about the possible use of article 49.3. This is a controversial article that allows the government to push through legislation even if the Assemblée does not vote in favour.
Read also: Explainer: what is France’s article 49.3 and why is it in the news?
The use of Article 49.3 is highly contested, and President Macron’s government has been severely criticised for its repeated use of the method, particularly under the administration of former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during the intense debates on pension reform.
Yet, Mr Saint-Martin was keen to play down any controversy.
“If the text respects two things: €60 billion of budgetary efforts to balance the accounts, and reduces public spending by two thirds, then I do not see why we should not have confidence in Parliament,” said Mr Saint-Martin.
“If Parliament does not want to stick to this rule that we have set, then the government will step up,” he added, perhaps hinting at the possible use of 49.3.
Chairman of the Finance Committee, LFI (La France Insoumise, left-wing) MP Eric Coquerel, has said that so far, “the budget that will be put to the vote at the beginning of November remains ‘NFP compatible’”. The NFP is the Nouveau Front Populaire, a left-wing electoral alliance, of which the LFI is part.
“We have proposed or supported amendments that bring in €35 billion in revenue,” he said. He also said that “still to come” for debate - all of which had been approved in committee - were taxes on the relocation of multinational profits, taxes on super profits, and on financial transactions.
These will account for “between €26-43 billion in revenue on top of that,” he wrote on X (Twitter). This tallies with the €60 billion mentioned by Mr Saint-Martin.
However, Mr Coquerel also told LCP on October 26 that he believes that the debates will “end in 49.3” and that the government cannot “do this any other way”. “Then there will be a motion of no confidence, and I do not think the government will last the winter,” he said.
