Budget 2022: Senate votes to extend anti-inflationary measures by 2.5 billion euros

This Wednesday, the Senate voted in the first reading after the National Assembly on amendments to the 2022 budget with an anti-inflationary expansion of 2.5 billion euros to finance, among other things, an emergency energy audit.

The vote for this Second Amended Finance Bill (PLFR), after several amendments, was won by 251 votes to 28. The text was passed on November 9 in the first reading in the National Assembly, and the government did not resort to 49.3.

This PLFR “is part of the continuity of the purchasing power package” that was voted on this summer, said the minister in charge of public accounts, Gabriel Attal. This “makes it possible to provide funding for measures that will change the daily life of the French, while making a number of adjustments in a very classic logic of the completion of management.”

It includes, among other things, “an exceptional energy test for 12 million households, financial assistance for French wood heating and support for universities to pay their electricity bills,” according to Gabriel Attal, and a two-week extension of a 30 centime fuel discount. liter (ended on November 15).

Several changes in the Senate

The text, amended by the Senate, proposes “an expansion of 2.5 billion euros”, including 1.8 billion euros to fund an exceptional energy audit. And exceptional assistance of 230 million euros to eliminate the “blind spot” of home heating with wood, whether logs or pellets. The €440 million package should also fund the extension of the fuel discount.

The Senate passed a government amendment lowering the 2022 state budget deficit forecast to -5.0% of GDP, compared to -4.9% in the original text submitted to the National Assembly. Gabriel Attal, however, indicated that this return to 5% could only be “temporary” as the state intends to return the funds owed to the energy companies and has not been settled.

The senators also accepted, contrary to the government’s opinion, several amendments by General Rapporteur Jean-François Husson (LR). One aims to allocate more resources to communities for road works. The other is allocating 100 million euros in loans to upgrade the water supply networks. The rapporteur also provided for an increase in appropriations for the maintenance of bridges. In the end, the senators voted in favor of a centrist amendment to increase loans to France Services’ homes.