Barnier government pushes through social security budget

Photo: Stéphane De Sakutin Agence France-Presse Prime Minister Michel Barnier used Article 49.3 of the Constitution on Monday.

Anne Renaut – Agence France-Presse in Paris

Published at 10:26 Updated at 11:14

• Europe

The French government is living its last days, barring any surprises, with the extreme right announcing on Monday that it would vote for censure on budgetary issues, which, with the votes of the left, should precipitate the fall of the executive in a France already plunged for months into political chaos.

“We will vote to censure the government,” declared the leading figure of the extreme right, Marine Le Pen. The votes of the National Rally (RN) and those of the left-wing alliance, which also filed a motion of censure, are sufficient to bring down the centre-right government, which lacks a majority in the Assembly.

Shortly before, Prime Minister Michel Barnier had held his government responsible for getting the Social Security financing bill adopted without a vote.

Before a highly charged chamber, Mr. Barnier, who has been engaged in laborious negotiations for several days, said he had “completed the dialogue with all the political groups.”

The triggering of Article 49.3, allowing the adoption of the text without a vote, caused the departure of the radical left deputies.

“We are at a moment of truth that places everyone in front of their responsibilities,” said Mr. Barnier. “I think that the French would not forgive us for preferring particular interests to the future of the nation.”

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

A few moments later, the radical left announced the tabling of a motion of censure, then the far right did the same, while specifying that it would also vote for the left's motion. The text will be examined on Wednesday at the earliest.

The Barnier government should therefore fall, despite the concessions it has made in recent days to the far right, the referee of the game: no increase in electricity taxes, reduced state medical aid for foreigners, renunciation of a lower reimbursement of medicines… On Monday, shortly before the opening of the session in the Assembly, the RN set a new condition by demanding a gesture on pensions so as not to censure the government.

Country in “decline”

The adoption of a motion of censure would be a first since the fall of the government of Georges Pompidou in 1962. The Barnier government, formed in September after long and painful negotiations, would then become the shortest in the history of the Fifth Republic.

France continues to sink into the political crisis triggered by the dissolution of the National Assembly decided by Emmanuel Macron in June, which led to a hemicycle fragmented into three blocs, none of which has an absolute majority.

The country is facing an abysmal debt and the risk of a financial crisis.

“Without the social security financing bill that we are examining today, the deficit in social security accounts would reach nearly 30 billion euros next year,” warned Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin in the chamber.

The president of the Macronist group in the Assembly, Gabriel Attal, had previously called on the opposition “not to give in to the temptation of the worst and therefore not to vote to censure the government.”

In this deleterious climate, the French are essentially concerned about purchasing power and 87% consider their country to be “in decline,” according to an annual Ipsos-Sopra Steria survey published on Monday.

Asked about the issues that concern them most “on a personal level,” the French put “difficulties in terms of purchasing power” (38%) at the top, ahead of “protecting the environment” (23%) and “the level of delinquency” (22%), according to this survey on “French divisions.”

According to this opinion poll, nearly a third of French people (31%) want a new dissolution of the National Assembly after the one decided on June 9, while 52% of them are in favor of the resignation of Emmanuel Macron.