Unsurprisingly, the government easily resisted, Friday evening, November 25, the motion of censure triggered by the deputies of La France insoumise (LFI) after the use for the fifth time by Elisabeth Borne of the constitutional weapon of 49.3, on the revenue part of the 2023 Social Security draft budget.
In the process, the Prime Minister once again resorted to 49.3 for the expenditure section this time. “We cannot start the same discussions over and over again”argued Elisabeth Borne.
Deprived of an absolute majority in the Assembly, Elisabeth Borne had again engaged the responsibility of the government and faces a new motion of censure from LFI debated in a stormy context at the Palais Bourbon after the invectives exchanged the day before. The motion collected only 85 supporters – “rebellious”, communists and ecologists – far from the 289 votes needed to bring down the government.
“I can’t bring myself to the litany of 49.3 and motions of censure”assured the Prime Minister, calling on the ” compromise “. But the president of the LFI group in the Assembly, Mathilde Panot, announced a new motion of censure against the government after this sixth appeal to 49.3 by the Prime Minister.
“A 49.3 to start the week, a second to end it. The sixth in a month. To sanction each repetition of government obstruction, we will table a motion of censure”, wrote on Twitter Mme panot friday night.
Do not “switch into role-playing games”
Thursday evening, during the examination of a bill LFI, the names of birds rocketed in the hemicycle, until a “You’re going to shut it up” launched by Guadeloupean elected official Olivier Serva (Liot) to the Renaissance group.
By suspending sessions and amendments, the presidential camp exasperated the opposition by preventing the vote on an unsubdued text in favor of the reintegration of caregivers not vaccinated against Covid-19.
Friday evening, LFI deputy Caroline Fiat pounded “the inadmissible image of the government yesterday” and Minister Olivier Véran “swaggering as usual”. She blamed the macronists for their “hundreds of ridiculous sub-amendments” to slow down the discussion.
The deputy Les Républicains (LR) Yannick Neuder in turn denounced the “chaotic situation last night”saying to himself “appalled by the behavior of the majority and the government” and his “little game of obstruction”a “denial of democracy”. And environmentalist Sophie Taillé-Polian castigated the “winding up of Parliament before closing”.
Elisabeth Borne first played the appeasement by calling not to “to switch to role-playing games, even fights”. Then she went up to the front against the “dilatory maneuvers” of LFI which withdrew several texts to discuss its proposal on caregivers. “You do not appreciate that the majority masters the rules of procedure of your Assembly as well as you do”she launched to the opposition.
Night sessions are increasing in the Assembly
Throughout the day, the presidential camp and the opposition passed responsibility for the invectives exchanged the day before. The Macronist deputies first demanded a sanction against Olivier Serva, before temporizing in a “willingness to appease”.
At LFI, Mathilde Panot wrote to the President of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet to be indignant at “government obstruction” against the reintegration of caregivers.
In an interview at The voice of the NorthMme Braun-Pivet generally deplored the practice of “the obstruction” parliamentary. “It’s still the very negation of the debate”, she pointed out. The President of the Assembly intends to talk about it on Tuesday morning with all the group presidents, during a meeting devoted to the grueling pace of work in the Assembly, where night sessions are increasing.
On France Inter, the Minister for Relations with Parliament Frank Riester judged that in the new Assembly, “it may be more violent” and “behaviours should change”. “But at the same time the texts are moving forward”he estimated. “We cannot, when we behave like La France Insoumise for six months, play scared”he also dropped.
The debate on the Social Security budget has therefore been relegated to the background. The National Assembly had only debated its revenue section for three hours. It had voted on the government’s proposal for an additional envelope of 543 million euros for the hospital in 2022, due to the “Covid-related additional costs”. They are in addition to the approximately 570 million euros for the hospital presented to the Senate at first reading, in particular in order to “coping with the early outbreak of bronchiolitis”had specified the Minister of Health François Braun.