The French opposition will present two motions of censure against the Government of Emmanuel Macron

The government of Emmanuel Macron tomorrow faces two motions of censure presented by the two main opposition parties after the use of a decree to approve a budget text, although both have practically zero chances of succeeding.

The decision of the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, to use article 49.3 of the Constitution to adopt the first part of the finance bill for 2023, skipping the parliamentary vote, has served the leftist alliance, Nupes, and the extreme right of Marine LePen, National Regrouping, to present motions of censure.

LOOK HERE: Macron asks Berlin for European “solidarity” in the face of rising energy prices

The first was filed by Nupes, which includes Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insumisa, the socialists, environmentalists and communists, but hours later the group of Le Pen also decided to present a second.

The political distance that separates both parties, the main opposition groups, from the deputies of Macron after the legislative elections in June, it makes neither of them willing to vote on the other’s motion.

The debate will take place this Monday in a heated context, with growing strikes and popular demonstrations in favor of wage increases and against growing inequality and the deterioration of purchasing power.

For the RN, the motion seeks “Censor Elisabeth Borne’s team for democratic rejection” and the “contempt for the republican spirit of the institutions”while Nupes also speaks of the “contempt” of the Government and the impasse in which it finds itself facing “increasing inequalities”.

Both texts need an absolute majority to be adopted, that is, the vote of at least 289 deputies, which means that the chances of throwing the Government with them are few (RN has 89 and Nupes 150). would directly lead to the resignation of the prime minister.

MORE INFORMATION: Strikes continue in France due to government requisitions

Le Pen has wanted to establish itself as a responsible leader and assures that it will vote in favor of government measures when it deems it necessary, although it defends that it is “fundamentally opposed to Macron’s policy”. In this case, the show in the National Assembly will be the opportunity to give voice to popular discontent and give more visibility to his group, whose presence has increased strongly after the elections.

Leader of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party and member of parliament Marine Le Pen gestures during the reading of the Social Security (Securite Sociale) financing bill at the National Assembly in Paris on October 20, 2019. 2022. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP) (ALAIN JOCARD /)

Listen to the opposition

This Sunday, 53 deputies from The Republicans, the traditional right-wing party, published a column in the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (LE JDD) confirming that they will not vote on the motions of censure against the government, but will ask it to “learn to listen to the proposals of the right”.

“Because we respect the vote of the French on June 19 (date of the elections), and because the new Assembly has only been in operation for eight weeks, we are not going to present or vote on this censorship”underline in the letter 53 of the 62 conservative parliamentarians.

The Conservatives believe that adding a political and institutional crisis to the economic and energy crisis of recent months, “with an inflation that reactivates the social crisis”, it would be irresponsible.

However, for them the global budget for 2023 presented by the Government is “extremely disappointing” and it goes against the correction of public finances and the sustainability of public debt.

“The government is going to have to learn to listen,” say the conservatives, recalling that for this Executive the agreement with his peers in the chamber is a novelty, since in Macron’s first five years his party did have an absolute majority, which allowed them to pass the bulk of their proposals.

ALSO SEE: Emmanuel Macron promises Zelensky to increase his military support to Ukraine after the bombings

In fact, it was not really a surprise that Borne resorted to 49.3 last Wednesday, since the opposition declared that they did not want to vote in its favor after eight days of debate and the inclusion of a hundred amendments to the initial project.

What’s more, it is expected to use it again in other budget bills by the end of the year, such as Social Security, and even with the controversial pension reform, a political card that would be much riskier to play and that could quickly burn the prime minister.

Source: Elcomercio