Private government from 49.3 to July? A hypothesis that will have serious consequences

Not content with its participation in the vote on the rejection of the immigration bill in the National Assembly on Monday, December 11, the National Rally intends to deal a new blow to the government. Its goal: to deprive the executive of any possibility of resorting to article 49.3… until next July! A decision by the Constitutional Council on this issue is expected on the afternoon of Thursday, December 14.

On November 16, Marine Le Pen, on behalf of her parliamentary group, addressed the Constitutional Council for this purpose. To justify his request, the finalist of the last presidential election believes that the government has exhausted its ammunition. “The majority, hypothetically, have only three types of 49.3 per year,” recalls Jean-Jacques Urvoas, a former justice minister and professor of public law at the University of Western Brittany. For budget texts, he can use 49.3 as many times as he wants. In addition, he has 49.3 in the regular session and another in the extraordinary session.

Last September, the government identified two texts that would likely require 49.3 in the regular session: the Immigration Bill and the Public Finance Programming Bill. The latter, in fact, is not considered a budget text. The government therefore opened an extraordinary meeting at the end of September to take responsibility in this context.

The controversy arose because on second reading Elizabeth Bourne reintroduced 49.3… except we were then in a regular session. “The government says it’s the same 49.3 because it’s the same text. They may be right, but we can also note that they did not use it during the same session,” continues Jean-Jacques Urvoas, adding that he does not remember such a precedent.

On Macroni’s side we say we are “serene”.

While a few days ago the influential Macronist lawmaker said he was “calm” and “confident that the government will win the case,” the former justice minister still believes the government has shown some courage. The decision of the Sages will definitely change the plans of the leader.

If the Constitutional Council agrees with him, his task will become much easier in the coming months. He could well convene five extraordinary two-day sessions for the same number of texts in July next year and activate the same number of 49.3 three months later. If he loses, he will no longer be able to use 49.3 for seven months. The government will suffer significant losses from immigration, even if it says it is doing everything possible to avoid resorting to it.