The French government of Michel Barnier, appointed by Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of September without a clear majority in the National Assembly, could be censored by left and far-right oppositions this Wednesday, December 4. The vote is scheduled for around 8 p.m., after several hours of discussions.
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What to remember
► This Monday, December 2, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, in the absence of a clear majority in the National Assembly, resorted to article 49.3 of the Constitution. It allows him to have his Social Security financing bill adopted without the vote of deputies, in exchange for a commitment to his responsibility before the Assembly.
► The two opposition blocs, the National Rally (RN, far right) and the New Popular Front (NFP, left), have each tabled a motion of censure to overthrow the government. The two motions are debated from 4 p.m. this Wednesday, December 4.
► The RN affirmed that it would vote for the NFP’s motion of censure, the first to be debated. The sum of deputies from the two blocs having announced that they wanted to vote on censure reaching 325 deputies, for a majority set at 288, the Prime Minister and his government could be censored. This hasn’t happened since 1962.
Times are given in the Paris time zone, (TU +1h)
4:20 p.m.: QWhat do the two motions of censure contain?
Two motions of censure were tabled: one by the New Popular Front (NFP), a left-wing bloc, the other by the National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen and the Union of Rights for the Republic (UDR) by Eric Ciotti.
In its motion, the NFP presents two reasons for censorship. The first is that the current right-wing government is a “ negation of the result of the last legislative elections », the NFP having come first. The second reason concerns the political orientations of the Barnier government, in particular the refusal to repeal the pension reform, the policy of “ all repressive » from the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau or the finance bill and that on the financing of Social Security, “ the most austerity budgetary texts of the last twenty-five years “.
This motion is most likely to be voted on, because the RN and the UDR have said they will vote for it. This support from the RN is surprising, because the NFP mentions in its motion a “ opportunist agreement with the National Rally, in absolute contradiction with the immense republican momentum » during the last round of the legislative elections.
The second motion of censure, that of the RN and the UDR, ensures that the budgetary texts of the Barnier government will “ accentuate the deficits » and risk causing “ recessive effects “. According to this motion, “ the government never wanted to hear the proposals made » by the RN group and the UDR group on the budget, among others those of “ degrease the state » by refocusing it on its sovereign missions, “ to defend entrepreneurs ”, or even “ to restore purchasing power to the French “. For the RN and the UDR, the government of Michel Barnier “ showed no sign of any political consideration of the results of the 2024 European and legislative elections “.
4:15 p.m.: Discussions on censure motions delayed
Discussions on the motions of censure were to begin around 4 p.m. in the National Assembly, but questions to the government and the discussion on the end-of-management finance bill for 2024 caused the initially planned process to be delayed. Currently, deputies are still discussing the end-of-management finance bill for 2024. Censorship is, however, regularly mentioned there.