The threat of the motion of censure hangs over the French Government due to the budget debate

Marine Le Pen could activate the mechanism this Monday if Barnier does not meet her demands on pensions

Dec. 1 () –

The French Government headed by Prime Minister Michel Barnier could face in the coming days, and even this Monday at the earliest, a motion of censure promoted by Marine Le Pen’s far-right if the negotiations on the conflictive budgets for 2025 fail. .

Le Pen demands that Barner bend to the designs of the ultra party she leads, the National Rally — which has the largest number of seats in the National Assembly — especially on the issues of pensions and the reduction of reimbursements for certain medications. , the latter in the background. Barnier has refused to touch on the issue and has only made one concession, which is the elimination of the increase in the electricity tax.

In the event that the prime minister does not capitulate, Le Pen could activate this Monday the mechanism for the motion of censure against the French Government a few months after the difficult center-right coalition that governs the country comes into operation.

Barnier is thus facing the political erosion caused by the enormous austerity of his budgets, designed to reduce a debt estimated at 3.2 billion euros, in a scenario of parliamentary minority. The game, the prime minister has specified, has the intention of saving 60 billion euros in 2025 through cuts and additional benefits.

Monday is a key day because the French National Assembly will receive the budget text relating to the financing of Social Security, including pensions. Without a majority, Barnier could choose to activate article 49.3, a special constitutional power that allows approval of the budget without the need to vote on it in the chamber.

“Out of pure stubbornness and sectarianism,” denounced this Sunday the president of the National Group, Jordan Bardella, this government is causing the negotiations to end up being suspended at the risk of activating the motion.” What’s more, sources close to Le Pen have assured the channel BFMTV that the leader has already made “her decision” regarding the possible motion of censure.

Faced with pressure, the Minister of Budgets and Public Accounts, Laurent Saint-Martin, announced this weekend that the Government does not intend to make new concessions in the Social Security budget, despite the threat of the motion and the difficulty of the debate in general, which is shaking financial markets: French sovereign borrowing costs have risen sharply, reaching the highest premium on German bonds since the peak of the eurozone debt crisis in 2012.

“This text is not from the French Government: it is the result of a parliamentary commitment between deputies and senators through a conclusive mixed commission, something that has not happened for fifteen years with a budget, and going back would be sitting in Parliament, democracy and deliberation, whose commitment we respect,” said the minister in statements to ‘Le Parisien’ this past Saturday.