After the rejection in the National Assembly of a motion of censure tabled by La France insoumise (LFI), Elisabeth Borne once again chose to resort to article 49.3 of the Constitution on Sunday November 26. The Prime Minister once again took responsibility for her government to have the expenditure section of her budgetary programming law and therefore the entire text adopted. It is the 19the recourse to article 49.3 since the appointment of Mme Borne in Matignon, the eighth since the resumption of parliamentary work at the end of September.
The LFI group immediately announced the tabling of a new motion of censure, which, like the others, should fail to obtain a majority of the votes of deputies. The government will then be able to see the entire PLFSS adopted on second reading in the National Assembly and the text resume its legislative journey in the Senate.
Earlier, the previous motion of censure filed by LFI obtained only 89 votes out of the 289 required to overthrow the government. This rejection constitutes adoption at second reading of the revenue part of the social security financing bill (PLFSS).
In her speech in response to the new motion of censure tabled by the “rebellious” group, Ms. Borne repeated the need for France to have a budget, and the absence of “alternative majority capable of governing”. “We need the Social Security financing bill to keep our social model alive”she said later, triggering 49.3.
Two concessions made
This Social Security financing bill provides for expenditure increasing by 3.2% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 254.9 billion euros. The deficit of the “Safety”set at 8.8 billion euros in 2023 then 10.7 billion in 2024 according to the government’s latest forecasts, could reach 17.5 billion by 2027. The bill was adopted Tuesday by senators in a substantially revised version.
If the government has essentially returned to the previous version, that of the Assembly, it announced on Thursday two concessions on particularly sensitive points, Agirc-Arcco and franchises.
He thus accepted an amendment from the Republicans, asking that the surpluses of the Agirc-Arcco regime be used only to “participate in the balance of special regimes put into extinction”and no “under the heading of financial solidarity within the retirement system”.
Concerning medical deductibles, the Senate had decided to submit to the prior opinion of the social affairs committees the envisaged modifications on the amounts of deductibles or fixed contributions remaining the responsibility of the insured on their health expenses. The government supported this proposal.