Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne used the constitutional weapon of 49.3 for the sixth time in the Assembly, where the debates were mainly focused around the invectives exchanged the day before during a stormy session.
New 49.3 followed by the announcement of a new BIA motion. It’s here sixth time that this happens at the Palais Bourbon, where the government passes its budgetary texts without a vote because of the absence of an absolute majority in the Assembly.
“ We can’t start the same discussions forever “, Argued Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne by engaging the responsibility of the government on the expenditure component of the Social Security budget, in new reading.
Just before, the Assembly had largely rejected a motion of censure LFI on the revenue part. She collected only 85 supporters, far from the 289 votes needed to bring down the government.
A debate on Social Security relegated to the background
But the discussions focused less on Social Security and its budget than on the atmosphere of tension that has reigned in the National Assembly for 24 hours. Thursday evening, during the examination of a bill LFI, the names of birds rocketed in the hemicycle, until a “ You are going to close it 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 insubordinate text in favor of the reintegration of caregivers not vaccinated against Covid-19.
Elisabeth Borne first played the appeasement by calling not to ” switch to role-playing games, even fights “. Then, she rose to the front against the ” delaying maneuvers from 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 Meeting as well as you do “, she launched to the opposition.
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 “ desire for appeasement “.
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. She had voted on the government’s proposal for an additional envelope of 543 million euros for the hospital in 2022, due to “ additional costs related to Covid “.
They are in addition to some 570 million euros for the hospital presented to the Senate at first reading, in particular to ” coping with the early outbreak of bronchiolitis “, had specified the Minister of Health François Braun.
49.3, the best known article of the Constitution
49.3 refers to article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, which allows the ” Prime Minister, after deliberation by the Council of Ministers “to engage” the responsibility of the government before the National Assembly on the vote of a bill of finance or financing of social security “. The Prime Minister can also use this mechanism for another bill, but only once per parliamentary session, which limits its use. The project is then considered adopted, “ unless a motion of censure, tabled within the following twenty-four hours, is voted under the conditions provided for in the preceding paragraph “.
By drawing 49.3, the government risks a motion of censure: the deputies must table it within 24 hours, signed by 58 of them. The text is then discussed in session within 48 hours. If the motion of censure fails to obtain an absolute majority, set at 289 votes, the government text is adopted without a vote. If the motion of censure is adopted, it leads to the resignation of the Prime Minister and his government. More than 100 motions of censure have been tabled since 1958, recalls Agence France presse, but only one succeeded, in 1962, bringing down the government of Georges Pompidou.
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(With AFP)