MOTION OF CENSURE. The motion of censure tabled by the Nupes against the government is being debated on July 11, 2022. LFI’s demonstration of “mistrust”, however, has little chance of succeeding. Follow the debates live.
The essential
- The motion of censure tabled by the Nupes must be debated and voted on in the National Assembly this Monday, July 11, 2022, at 4 p.m.
- Only the four groups behind the motion of censure should sign the motion of censure, ie 151 rebellious deputies, socialists, communists and ecologists, at most, far from the absolute majority of 289 votes necessary to overthrow the government. In all likelihood, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and her government are out of danger. A security that the presidential camp owes to the right and the extreme right which refuse to sign the motion of censure.
- LR and RN, however, defend themselves from being ranked behind the majority as suggested by the forces of the left who present themselves as the only opposition to Emmanuel Macron. The right simply explains that it wants to “take advantage of the situation to obtain progress” while the National Rally wishes to embody a respectable and constructive opposition.
Live
2:48 p.m. – Mathilde Panot will speak at 4 p.m. at the National Assembly
The president of the Insoumis group will open the session devoted to the motion of censure of the Nupes. Mathilde Panot will deliver a speech at the rostrum of the National Assembly, where her group’s motivations for calling a vote against the government of Elisabeth Borne will be discussed. With its 75 deputies, the group of insubordinate France is the largest of the intergroup of the New popular ecological and social union.
14:40 – A motion of censure, how does it work?
The motion of censure, or motion of no confidence, is governed by article 49 of the Constitution. To be tabled, a motion of censure must collect the signature of at least 58 deputies, that is to say one tenth of the hemicycle. It’s done for the Nupes, which was able to file its motion last Wednesday. It is then submitted to debate in the hemicycle of the National Assembly in public session. At the end of the debate, the deputies proceed to a vote. At the end of the ballot, “only the votes in favor of the motion of censure are counted”, indicates the Constitution. If these votes are a majority, the government is overthrown and the Prime Minister must present his resignation to the President of the Republic. But if a majority of deputies vote against the motion of censure or abstain, the motion fails and the government is maintained.
14:32 – Who will vote for this motion of censure against the government?
The left should be lonely in the vote of this motion of censure. Because beyond the 151 deputies of the Nupes, the other opposition groups have indicated that they would not vote for no confidence in the government. “A motion of censure before having started, it seems quite childish as an approach, totally useless”, explained last week Olivier Marleix, president of the LR group in the Assembly, on LCI. The LR deputies also indicated their refusal to vote for a motion tabled by their opponents on the left. On the side of the National Rally, with its 89 deputies, it will be a question of embodying a constructive opposition, in opposition to the Nupes which wants to “block everything, break everything”, in the words of Sébastien Chenu. No support to hope for the motion of the censorship of the left, therefore.
14:27 – What does the Nupes motion of censure contain?
On Wednesday, July 6, the deputies of Nupes therefore tabled a motion of censure against the Borne government. The text of this motion deplores Elisabeth Borne’s refusal to call a vote of confidence in the Assembly. “In the absence of a vote of confidence, we have no choice but to submit this motion of no confidence. It is about the necessary respect for Parliament, even more so in this new period which should allow us to see it an increased role”, can we read. This motion must therefore “allow democratic expression through a solemn vote expressing our distrust of this government.”
14:19 – A motion of censure tabled by the deputies of Nupes
On the evening of the second round of the legislative elections, the rebellious deputies had promised to table a motion of censure against the Borne government, now deprived of a majority in the National Assembly. An idea which, at first, did not appeal to their partners in the New Popular Ecological and Social Union: Olivier Faure, the boss of the socialists, had deplored a unilateral decision by rebellious France. Communist Fabien Roussel, meanwhile, was counting on a vote of confidence called for by the government. But faced with Elisabeth Borne’s decision not to ask for the confidence of deputies during her general policy speech on Wednesday July 6, the four left-wing groups finally agreed on a common motion of censure.
2:13 p.m. – Follow the vote of the motion of censure in the Assembly live
Hi there ! Welcome to this direct from Linternaute. This Monday afternoon, the deputies are debating a motion of censure tabled by the deputies of Nupes against the Borne government. Follow here the content of the exchanges and the procedure of the vote at the Assembly. Opening of the debate at 4 p.m.
Learn more
What is a motion of censure?
The motion of censure has been a term at the heart of parliamentary news since the end of the legislative elections. Its objective: to lead, if it is adopted, to the resignation of the Prime Minister as well as of his government. The motion of censure can be spontaneous, directly tabled by deputies. They must be at least 58, or one tenth of the National Assembly. To be adopted, it must collect 289 votes “for”, that is to say the absolute majority of the hemicycle. In the event of a relative majority (a majority of “for” but less than 289), it is not adopted.
The motion of censure can also be provoked by the government when it engages its responsibility during the use of article 49.3: this article makes it possible to have a text adopted without debate in the Assembly, unless a motion of censorship, filed within 24 hours, does not win an absolute majority. Under the Fifth Republic, 51 motions of censure were thus filed in the case of the use of 49.3 (we speak of “offensive motions”), but none won a majority.
Who must vote for the motion of censure of the Nupes?
On Wednesday July 6, the deputies of Nupes tabled a motion of censure against the Borne II government. However, they should not be able to rally the rest of the opposition to their attempt to overthrow the Borne government on Monday July 11. “A motion of censure before having started, it seems quite childish as an approach, totally useless. Even before it was tabled, the motion of censure did not find support from the right and on the day of the vote the Republicans confirm their position. [joindront] not [leurs] voice to those of LFI” as assured by MP Annie Genevard on BFMTV on July 6.
Same story on the side of the spokesperson for the National Rally, Sébastien Chenu, who lamented, Monday, July 4 on RTL, that “the far-left deputies want to block everything, break everything. We are not there to block everything, break everything.” Presumably, the motion of censure should therefore win the 151 votes of the Nupes intergroup, as well as the vote of a few independents and non-members, but not more.
How many motions of no confidence have led to the overthrow of a government?
Since the establishment of the Fifth Republic, 58 “spontaneous” motions of censure have been tabled against 20 prime ministers. But only one was adopted, in 1962 (read below). It must be said that bringing such a procedure to fruition is not easy. The hardest part being, for the oppositions, to agree on the same text. In July 2018, for example, Les Républicains, but also, with the same voice, the groups Nouvelle gauche, La France insoumise and Gauche democrate et republicaine had tabled a motion of censure against the government of Edouard Philippe after the revelations of the Benalla case. But LR had not voted for the motion of censure from the left, which had nevertheless supported that tabled by the right. Result: neither had succeeded.
A motion of censure almost succeeded in 1992, against the reform of the common agricultural policy. While François Mitterrand, the President of the Republic, only had a relative majority in the National Assembly, the RPR (ex-LR) and the centrist parties UDF and UDC had agreed to table a motion of censure, soon joined by the Communist Party. The motion had failed to reach a majority by 3 votes.
The motion of censure was passed only once in the history of the Fifth Republic. It was in 1962, when General De Gaulle, President of the Republic, announced his intention to introduce direct universal suffrage in the presidential election. In the National Assembly, the Head of State only had a very relative majority (206 deputies). While the minimum number of votes required was 241, the motion of no confidence was supported by 280 deputies. It had therefore led to the resignation of the Prime Minister, Georges Pompidou. Except that De Gaulle had refused the resignation of his Prime Minister, dissolved the National Assembly, and called new legislative elections… from which he emerged with an enlarged majority, rising to 233 deputies.