MOTION OF CENSURE. The Nupes will table a motion of censure in the Assembly on Wednesday July 6, during Elisabeth Borne’s general policy speech. But this motion should not find a majority. We explain to you.
[Mis à jour le 5 juillet à 17h56] A motion of censure is a means for Parliament to exercise its control over the government. Tabled by at least 58 deputies, it triggers a vote in the National Assembly which, if it wins a majority, causes the fall of the government. What make Elisabeth Borne tremble, whose government no longer has an absolute majority in the Assembly? The deputies of the Nupes intergroup indeed announced this Tuesday in front of the press that they would table a motion of censure as of Wednesday, July 6. However, the right and far-right opposition does not seem inclined to vote in unison with the left to overthrow the government.
As of June 19, the rebellious deputy Eric Coquerel announced the intention of his group to table a motion of censure against the Borne government, if the latter did not submit to a vote of confidence in the National Assembly. However, on Monday July 4, government spokesman Gabriel Attal confirmed that there would be no vote of confidence following Elisabeth Borne’s general policy speech, scheduled for Wednesday July 6 in the Assembly. “Trust cannot be decreed, it is built patiently, text after text, over time,” Attal justified. Immediately, the president of the LFI group reacted on Twitter: “Madame Borne, we do not abuse democracy with impunity. We will therefore force you to come before Parliament. From this Wednesday, we will table a motion of censure against the government. ” A company to which all the components of Nupes have joined. On the other hand, the deputies of LR and RN should not join the votes of the left.
Will the Nupes and the right vote for the motion of censure against the government?
This Tuesday, July 5, the four allied groups in the New Popular Ecological and Social Union announced to the press the tabling of a joint motion of censure. However, they should not be able to rally the rest of the opposition to their attempt to overthrow the Borne government. “A motion of censure before having started, it seems quite childish as an approach, totally useless. I think that we will not lend themselves to this game”, thus indicated Olivier Marleix, president of the LR group in the Assembly, this Tuesday July 5 on LCI. “We will not join our voices to those of LFI”, decided the deputy LR Annie Genevard on BFMTV.
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, but not more.
When will the motion of censure against the Borne government be voted on?
The Nupes announced at a press conference its intention to table a motion of censure on Wednesday July 6. It will therefore follow the general policy speech scheduled for the same day by Elisabeth Borne, at 3 p.m. in front of the deputies. However, article 49 of the Constitution, relating to motions of censure, indicates that “the vote cannot take place until forty-eight hours after its deposit”. We will therefore surely have to wait until Friday to see the deputies vote for or against the government.
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, unless a motion of censure, tabled within 24 hours won 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.
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). Completing such a procedure 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.