2023-12-29 13:22:55
Published on Dec 29 2023 at 12:00Updated Dec 29 2023 at 2:22 p.m.
Roll on 2024! While the finance bill (PLF) has just been definitively adopted after the opinion given last Thursday by the Constitutional Council, the deputies are already thinking about a new mode of operation for the parliamentary examination of the next budget for 2025. A way to avoid the psychodramas and the big mess experienced in 2023.
The last meeting of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, around ten days ago, had, in this regard, the appearance of a collective psychotherapy session. “I have been in this commission for thirty years, I have never seen this,” sighed Charles de Courson, the Liot deputy made famous by the battle over pensions, to sum up the budgetary autumn.
“The clarity of our debates and the clarity of everyone’s priorities have not always been there,” regretted, in an understatement, Jean-René Cazeneuve, elected Renaissance and general rapporteur of the budget.
Dismay of deputies
A few figures are enough to understand the great dismay which has spread across all ranks of the Chamber. In total, if we add those of the Finance Committee and the plenary session, 17,602 amendments were tabled by deputies in the fall. For comparison, there were “only” 11,142 in 2022 – yet an exceptional vintage. And the average had reached 9,800 each year during Macron’s first five-year term, which already showed clear inflation compared to the situation in previous legislatures.
“Without 49.3, we would have had to go until Easter to examine all the amendments,” railed Marie-Christine Dalloz, LR MP. A collective failure, which owes as much to the government (with its 49.3 quickly brandished then activated which disrupt the debates) as to a certain dilution of responsibilities within the parliamentary groups.
How to get out of this impasse ? A few days ago, the Minister of Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave, proposed bringing forward discussions by several months, including with the oppositions. Instead of waiting for spring, the “framing” with the ministries and the majority could begin at the start of the year, before discussions in February with the oppositions to see “under what conditions” they could abstain on the budget vote.
“The Dialogues of Bercy” went “pschitt”
The path seems narrow to say the least. Two years ago, the government had already pulled “The Bercy Dialogues” out of its hat to speak with the opposition at the end of August before the presentation of the PLF, but the initiative went “shit”.
“If the government wants to obtain our abstention, it would have to accept real concessions and profound changes, by attacking tax loopholes or by accepting new taxes,” warns PS MP Christine Pirès-Beaune, skeptical.
“On immigration, the government has shown that they are ready to move a lot, they should do the same on the budget. We had voted for a Modem amendment on capital taxation which would bring in 15 billion, these are the type of changes necessary,” warns Eric Coquerel (LFI), the president of the Finance Committee.
Establish a sort of self-discipline
Alongside this government initiative, the rebellious elected official also wants to work with Jean-René Cazeneuve so that the debates are not embolized by the amendments. “We need to think about a way to establish a kind of self-discipline,” he explains.
“I am opposed to limiting the right of deputies to table amendments, it is a red line. On the other hand, for the session, we could think about a sort of scheduled time depending on the number of amendments declared. It is then up to each parliamentary group to manage its debate time and its priorities,” says Eric Coquerel.
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