2023-09-06 05:22:38
Posted Sep 6, 2023, 7:22 AM
The staging is neat, but isn’t the script stitched together in white thread? The government gave this Tuesday the political kick-off of the examination of the future finance bill for 2024, by welcoming representatives of the opposition to Bercy for a working session supposed to collect their proposals. One way of trying to pass the ball back to them before the autumn games in Parliament, even though the executive does not hide from already preparing for recourse to article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass its financial texts. .
They were therefore 19 – representatives of the political groups of the Assembly and the Senate – to go to the Ministry of the Economy for this new meeting called “Dialogues de Bercy”.
The former Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Gabriel Attal had the idea last year, when Macronie discovered the pangs of the majority relative to the Assembly and was looking for a way to appease the debates to come. His successor Thomas Cazenave takes up the torch this year under the leadership of Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Finance.
Falling ambitions
In one year, however, ambitions have been significantly lowered. Is it the disappointment following a 2023 budget that will ultimately require ten times the use of 49.3 allowing adoption without a vote? Whereas Bercy had organized four half-days of work last year, this time it is necessary to be satisfied for the moment with a short meeting of hardly two hours, leaving roughly 5 minutes to each one to express a position on the bushy PLF. “Our door is open, we are in a listening position and we do not refrain from organizing other sessions”, we are assured at Bercy.
This dialogue carried out fissa did not in any case put off the opposition which all came, without excessive expectation nevertheless. “It’s always good to talk. But the Dialogues had not made it possible to converge last year on a budget acceptable to the government and accepted by the opposition,” recalls MP LR Véronique Louwagie. “There were no major expectations,” confirms Jean-François Husson (LR), general rapporteur for the Budget in the Senate.
On the left, Christine Pirès-Beaune (PS) judges that “the exercise last year was a little disappointing, but it is always useful to have some information before the presentation of the text”. “It is also an opportunity to get to know Thomas Cazenave better and to better understand his priorities,” said Claude Raynal (PS), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Declining savings
During the session, the very fresh Minister Delegate for Public Accounts took the opportunity to take stock of the economic situation – with clouded prospects – and recalled what the government’s budgetary objectives were for this five-year term. The main lines of the PLF 2024 have been set out – supposed to both reduce the deficit while ensuring the financing of ecological transition and public services – and the red line on repeated tax increases. “Our goal is to unite around a constraint which must be shared by all, that of the debt which must be reduced”, underlines an adviser.
Above all, the stated objective of the government was to collect proposals for savings from the opposition. While an amount of 15 billion was advanced before the summer, the range would now be between 6 and 10 billion, according to our information. But this quest for savings did not progress much on Tuesday, the oppositions not having wanted to enter the game imposed by the executive.
Dialogue of the deaf
“It makes no sense to ask us for proposals, when we only have a sketch of the budget”, reacts Véronique Louwagie (LR). “It is first of all up to the government to make proposals! But we are open to a debate, as long as we talk regarding expenses as well as revenues, ”warns Claude Raynal (PS). “We will make proposals during the parliamentary debate around the elimination of tax loopholes such as the research tax credit”, adds Christine Pirès-Beaune.
This dialogue of the deaf should continue throughout the fall. On Sunday, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, had warned that she would “certainly have to resort to 49.3 this fall” for the budget. “Making such a declaration upstream does not create a favorable climate for discussion”, underlines Véronique Louwagie.
The examination at the end of September in an extraordinary session of the public finance programming law (LPFP) – which indicatively sets the budget trajectory until 2027 – should in all probability give the opportunity for a first 49.3 for its adoption. On the left, Nupes is already considering a motion of censure, like a repeat of last year’s soap opera.
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