Parliament adopts the last budget of the five-year Macron under fire from opposition

The Parliament adopted, this Wednesday, the last draft budget of the five-year Macron, with a final vote of the Assembly where the oppositions fired red balls on the economic policy of the government, in a pre-campaign atmosphere.

At the time of entering the home stretch towards the presidential election, left and right redoubled their criticisms, when the majority gave themselves a satisfaction, encouraged by the good growth forecasts (+ 6.25% for 2021, + 4% for 2022).

“Electoral budget doubled by a class budget”

The finance bill for 2022 was adopted by 142 votes in favor, 50 against and one abstention. “We can not support this campaign budget”, cracked Véronique Louwagie (LR), who blasted a text “disastrous for the finances of France”, with an increase in the debt of more than 680 billion euros under the five-year term. At the other end of the hemicycle, the Communist Jean-Paul Dufrègne saw “the expression of president of the rich indelibly inscribed” on this legislature. “It is an electoral budget doubled by a class budget”, echoed the socialist Christine Pires Beaune.

Left and right will seize the Constitutional Council. The Senate, dominated by the right, has twice rejected consideration of a budget which “seriously jeopardizes the future”. In an assembly where the expressions are sharpened as the campaign advances, the “marchers” have shown themselves to be refreshed by these “companies which hire”, these “households which consume” and an employment rate at the highest since 1975. The LREM deputy Alexandre Holroyd thus castigated “the junk Thatchers who scour the TV sets” by accusing the government of “having burned the fund”, explicitly targeting LR candidate Valérie Pécresse. “There is still a lot to do (…) We cannot settle 40 years of dropping out in a five-year term”, he added.

Record debt

After opening the floodgates to public spending to safeguard the economy in the face of Covid, the 2022 budget project had the delicate mission of channeling it while taking into account the persistent epidemic threat. According to his forecasts, the deficit will be reduced to 5% of GDP, but the country’s debt will reach record levels at 113.5% of GDP next year – far from the promises of the start of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate, epidemic obliges . For the general rapporteur LREM Laurent Saint-Martin, the roadmap is clear: “The next five-year period will be a five-year period for consolidating our public finances”.

In the meantime, the government has multiplied the promises and announcements by adding them throughout the budget discussion: France 2030 investment plan, plan for Marseille, youth engagement contract for those under 25, measures of tariff shield to fight against soaring energy prices. 204 government amendments were adopted, widening the state’s balance by 12 billion euros more than the initial bill, highlighted the chairman of the Finance Committee, Eric Woerth (LR).

” General tour “

The government built this budget “live” as and when the events, “added Eric Woerth, criticizing the bad manners of Bercy vis-à-vis parliamentary work. “It was a democratic calamity,” lamented Eric Coquerel (LFI). Charles de Courson (Freedom and Territories) particularly targeted the amendments relating to the tariff shield. “At the end of the open bar, you offered us another general unencrypted tour,” lamented this old man of budget discussions, worrying about a hypothetical cost of this shield of 12 billion euros for public finances.

While there is almost unanimity in favor of securing the budgets of the sovereign ministries, the executive has defended its record by posting the increases promised for the Interior, Defense, Education or Research but also Justice. In total, the envelope for ministries has climbed by 11 billion euros. Government and the majority have also boasted of having reduced the taxation of households and businesses by 50 billion over the five-year term, to the chagrin of the left, which is offended by these “gifts” to the richest and the employers. So many political banners that announce the contests of the campaign.